SINGAPORE  - Chicago corn jumped to its highest since June on Monday, rising for a sixth session in a row as planting delays across parts of the U.S. Midwest underpinned the market.

Wheat climbed more than 1 percent as investors covered short positions.

The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade rose 1.5% to $3.89 a bushel by 0254 GMT, after hitting its highest since early June 2018 at $3.89-1/4 a bushel earlier in the session.

Wheat was up 1.3% at $4.71-1/4 a bushel, after closing down 0.4 percent on Friday and soybeans added nearly 1.3% at $8.32 a bushel after dropping 2.1% in the last session.

"The talk between traders is that "prevented planted" acres for corn may be as high as 5 million acres," said Ole Houe, director of advisory services at brokerage IKON Commodities.

"Whereas in the past, we have never seen it above 3.6 million acres and then there is the debate over "yield drag" from later planted corn."

Showers over the next 10 days are threatening to further slow planting from the Dakotas to Illinois, regions that have endured torrential rain this spring, the Commodity Weather Group said.

The delayed planting season across much of North America is starting to cause economic ripple effects along the farm supply chain.

Executives at agricultural equipment maker Deere & Co on Friday warned that farmers are becoming "much more cautious about making major purchases," in part because of the weather impact on planting.

The market is awaiting the U.S. Department of Agriculture's next crop planting update due later on Monday to see whether farmers made much headway during relatively drier conditions last week.

The United States is likely to permanently lose soybean export market share in China the longer U.S.-China trade talks drag on, a top executive at the U.S. Soybean Export Council industry group said on Friday.

U.S. soybean exports to China, the world's top market, plunged 74% last year after Beijing slapped steep tariffs on American beans in July in retaliation for U.S. duties on Chinese goods.

Brazilian farmers are taking advantage of U.S.-China trade tensions.

Soybean trading in Brazil has gained momentum in recent days, driven by a wave of Chinese demand, boosting prices and premiums paid at ports amid a weakening of the Brazilian currency.

Large speculators trimmed their net short position in CBOT corn futures in the week to May 14, regulatory data released on Friday showed.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's weekly commitments of traders report also showed that noncommercial traders, a category that includes hedge funds, trimmed their net short position in CBOT wheat and increased their net short position in soybeans.

(Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Rashmi Aich)

© Reuters News 2019