By Luzi Ann Javier Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Wheat fell and was heading for its fourth weekly decline on speculation that global stockpiles before the 2010 harvest may be bigger than estimated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture last month. Wheat for March delivery slipped 0.7 percent to $4.725 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade at 2:14 p.m. Paris time, for a decline of 0.3 percent this week. The USDA may raise its estimates of world inventories of wheat, corn and soybeans before the 2010 harvest in its report on Feb. 9, according to the average estimates of as many as 14 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. “The fundamental outlook for the grains complex is still very soft,” Toby Hassall, a research analyst at CWA Global Markets Pty, said by phone from Sydney today. “What the price is doing is falling low enough for global consumption to absorb those ample stockpiles.” The USDA may raise its estimate of global wheat stocks to 195.95 million metric tons next week, from 195.6 million tons in January, according to the survey. The soybean stockpile estimate may rise to 60.3 million tons, from 59.8 million tons. The wheat harvest in India, the world’s second-biggest producer, may rise to a record 82 million tons in 2010 from 80.6 million tons last year as favorable weather in the main growing regions lifts yields, a government official said. Farmers in France, the European Union’s largest wheat producer, planted an estimated 4.92 million hectares (12.2 million acres) of soft wheat for the 2010 harvest, the country’s agriculture ministry said today. The government had previously forecast plantings of 4.89 million hectares. Milling wheat for delivery in March traded on Liffe in Paris slipped 0.4 percent to 125 euros ($171.15) a metric ton. Soybean Crop Soybeans for March delivery added 0.3 percent to $9.17 a bushel. The most-active contract is up 0.3 percent this week, heading for the first advance in five weeks. Argentina’s soybean crop this year may be 52 million tons, higher than a previous forecast of 51 million tons, the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange said in its weekly report. Argentina is the world’s third-largest soybean exporter. Corn stockpile estimates may be raised to 136.8 million tons, from 136.19 million tons a month earlier, the survey showed. Corn for March delivery declined 0.7 percent to $3.515 a bushel, taking the weekly loss to 1.4 percent, the fourth straight decline. “We could see some short-covering ahead of the USDA report,” Hassall said, referring to investors closing bets on price declines. “Any rallies in grain prices, at least in the short-term, are going to be fairly unsustainable.” To contact the reporter on this story: Luzi Ann Javier in Singapore at ljavier@bloomberg.net.

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