By Jae Hur June 18 (Bloomberg) -- Soybeans rose in Chicago, headed for the first weekly gain in eight weeks as rainfall in Canada delayed plantings of the canola crop, boosting demand for the U.S. oilseed. Corn declined for the first time in three days. Soybean futures in Chicago have risen 1.9 percent this week, the first such gain since the week ended April 23. Excess rain in Canada, the largest canola exporter, means as much as 12.5 million acres (4.9 million hectares) of farmland won’t be planted this year, the Canadian Wheat Board said June 11. “Wet conditions in Canada have pushed wheat as well as soybeans,” said Hiroyuki Kikukawa, general manager of research at Tokyo-based IDO Securities Co. More rain is forecast in the coming days, he said. Soybeans for November delivery rose as much as 0.4 percent to $9.29 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade and traded at $9.265 a bushel at 11:40 p.m. Paris time. Canola for November delivery traded on the ICE Futures Canada exchange in Winnipeg dropped 1.4 percent to C$420.40 ($407.93) a metric ton at 12:32 p.m. after touching C$428 yesterday, the highest level since Aug. 31. The contract is set for a 5 percent climb this week. Rapeseed for November delivery traded on NYSE Liffe in Paris fell 0.8 percent to 331.75 euros ($410.37) a ton, heading for a 3.5 percent gain this week. Soybeans, rapeseed and canola, a rapeseed variety, are used to produce animal feed, vegetable oils and biodiesel. Canada Rains Korea Agro-Fisheries Trade Corp., a state-run food importer, issued a tender to buy 30,000 tons of non-genetically modified yellow soybeans for food use for delivery by Sept. 5. The tender will be on June 24, according to a tender notice on its website. Wheat for September delivery fell 0.1 percent to $4.78 a bushel. The contract has advanced 4.6 percent this week, the second straight weekly gain, as rain curbed planting in Canada and delayed harvesting in the southern Great Plains of the U.S. Paris-traded milling wheat for November delivery rose 0.9 percent to 141.25 euros a ton, climbing 3.5 percent this week. “The market should continue to find support from the weather conditions in Canada, where new rain is expected today,” French farm adviser Agritel said in an online comment. Farmers in Canada may seed 19.15 million acres of wheat, the lowest since 1971 and 18 percent less than a year ago, the CWB said in a report last week. Acres devoted to durum wheat will total 3.4 million, the lowest since 1980 and a 39 percent decline from last year, the CWB said. In Saskatchewan, the top grain grower in Canada, 73 percent of crops were seeded as of June 14, up from 70 percent a week earlier, the province’s Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday. Excessive rainfall slowed planting and has stressed crops, the ministry said in a report. Corn for December delivery in Chicago shed 0.3 percent to $3.7725 a bushel at 12:55 p.m. Paris time. The grain advanced 1.7 percent this week, gaining for the second week. The contract touched $3.815 on June 16, the highest level since May 12. To contact the reporter on this story: Jae Hur in Tokyo at jhur1@bloomberg.net.

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