Soybeans were lower on fund selling and harvest pressure, along with end of the month and end of the quarter position squaring. Also, traders were getting ready for Thursday’s quarterly stocks update with most analysts expecting for a year to year increase. China did buy 165,000 tons of new crop U.S. beans ahead of the open, which limited losses. Soybean meal and oil were lower following soybeans with oil picking up at least some additional pressure from China’s announcement of vegetable oil sales from state reserves. First notice day deliveries for October soybean meal and oil contracts on Thursday are expected to be heavy against oil and fairly light on meal. USDA’s weekly export sales numbers are also out Thursday at 7:30 AM Central. Soybeans are pegged at 800,000 to 1.5 million tons, soybean meal is seen at 75,000 to 175,000 and oil is placed at 20,000 to 110,000 tons.

Corn was higher on fund and technical buying, along with solid end user demand linked to continued concerns over crop yields. Traders do expect a year to year decline in quarterly stocks Thursday morning, which helped most contracts get back to support levels not long after the open. Corn wants to see yields and weather looks pretty good across most of the Cornbelt for much of this week. Ethanol futures were higher. Weekly U.S. corn sales are expected to be between 550,000 and 850,000 tons.

The wheat complex was mixed in general consolidation trade. Nearby contracts hit four month lows overnight, which exhausted at least some of the selling interest ahead of updated USDA production and quarterly stocks numbers. Contracts were lower for most of the session on forecasts for more rainfall in Russia and Ukraine. However, that precipitation is expected to be widely scatted, and stateside, some U.S. winter wheat growing areas are too dry to plant. The recent rain in Eastern Europe did help Russian wheat planting make a significant jump in the past week and 86% of their summer crop is harvested with the total at 58.2 million tons. In any event, there’ll be some fresh fundamental influence after the USDA numbers. European what was lower on fund selling with November Paris hitting a 6-week low before closing .9% lower and November London down 1.2%. National Bank Australia pegs that nation’s 2010/11 wheat crop at 23.8 million tons. Egypt bought 110,000 tons of U.S. soft white. Weekly U.S. sales are estimated at 600,000 to 900,000 tons.