* Chicago wheat futures gain more ground on U.S. crop concerns * Strong global demand provides support to world wheat prices (Adds details, quote in paragraph 3, Russian wheat prices, and fund positioning) SINGAPORE, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Chicago wheat rose on Tuesday to trade near a nine-year high scaled in the previous session as the declining condition of the U.S. winter crop raised worries over global supply amid strong demand. Corn ticked lower, while soybeans gained ground. “The wheat market was earlier tied down to corn prices, but it now has its own bullish story,” said a Singapore-based trader from an international grains trading company. “We see prices remaining firm well into next year.” The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade (CBOT) was up 0.3% at $7.99-1/4 a bushel, as of 0258 GMT, closing 3.2% higher on Monday when prices hit a December 2012 high of $8.00-1/2 a bushel. Corn slid 0.2% to $5.78 a bushel and soybeans gained 0.4% at $12.53-1/2 a bushel. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) rated 45% of the 2022 winter wheat crop in “good-to-excellent” condition, down from 46% a week earlier. Analysts on average had expected the USDA to rate 48% of the crop as “good-to-excellent”. The U.S. soybean harvest was 79% complete, as of Sunday, the USDA said in a weekly crop progress report on Monday, behind the five-year average of 81% and the average estimate in a Reuters analyst poll, also 81%. The U.S. corn crop was 74% harvested, the USDA said, ahead of the five-year average of 66% but behind the average analyst expectation of 75%. Wheat is drawing support as poor spring wheat harvests and an export duty imposed by Russia have heightened expectations of relatively tight supplies this season. Russian wheat export prices gained further last week, amid higher prices for wheat in Chicago and Paris and demand from Egypt, the world’s largest wheat importer, analysts said on Monday. Saudi Arabia’s main state wheat buying agency said it bought about 1.268 million metric tonnes of milling wheat in a massive deal that exceeded some traders’ expectations. Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT corn, wheat and soyoil futures contracts on Monday, traders said. The funds were net even in soybeans and net sellers of soymeal futures, they said. (Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)