By Luzi Ann Javier March 16 (Bloomberg) -- Soybean, wheat and corn futures gained in Chicago as the dollar weakened, making U.S. crop supplies cheaper for holders of other currencies. Soybeans for May delivery gained as much as 0.9 percent to $9.38 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade and traded at $9.3625 a bushel at 2:23 p.m. Singapore time. May-delivery corn added 0.4 percent to $3.6475 a bushel and wheat gained 0.1 percent to $4.7975 a bushel. The Dollar Index, which tracks the value of the greenback against currencies of six major trading partners, was down 0.2 percent at 80.115 at 2:25 p.m. Singapore time. “The U.S. dollar is mildly weaker and that’s probably a supportive element today,” Toby Hassall, an analyst at CWA Global Markets Pty, said by phone from Sydney. Wheat gained after Ukraine, the fifth-largest exporter, said losses to its grain crops caused by cold weather deepened. The cold weather destroyed 1.6 percent of areas planted to grains, compared with an earlier estimate of 0.3 percent, the Agriculture Ministry said. Wheat plantings are 10.9 percent under ice, and about 1.5 percent of the total has been destroyed, the ministry said. The nation’s output was forecast to drop to 20.9 million tons this year, from 25.9 million tons a year earlier, according to a February estimate by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “Hopefully, it will support wheat prices,” Jonathan Barratt, managing director at Commodity Broking Services Pty in Sydney, said by phone today. Yesterday’s slump may have also attracted buyers, he said. Wheat dropped as much as 1.8 percent before closing at $4.7925 a bushel, down 1.2 percent yesterday. Crop Progress Wheat crop conditions in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, the largest U.S. growers of winter varieties, improved last week because of warmer weather, the USDA said in separate reports. About 63 percent of the crop in Kansas, the top producer, was rated good or excellent as of March 14, up from 60 percent a week ago, the UDSA said. In Oklahoma, the second-biggest grower, 68 percent received the top rating, up from 65 percent. Texas wheat was rated 55 percent good or excellent, up from 45 percent. Prices of vegetable oils must rise to encourage farmers to increase planting and meet surging global demand for food and biofuels, Dorab Mistry, a director at Godrej International Ltd., said at a conference in Palm Springs, California yesterday. “I believe oilseeds and grains have been left behind in comparison with metals or energy,” he said. “We shall have to look to higher prices in the future to attract acreage to oilseeds and to palm. Consumers will have to get used to paying higher prices.” To contact the reporter on this story: Luzi Ann Javier in Singapore at ljavier@bloomberg.net

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