* Chicago wheat futures gain ground on U.S. crop concerns * Strong global demand provides support to wheat prices * European front month contract hits record high (Updates prices, adds quote, details, European record) By Sybille de La Hamaide and Naveen Thukral PARIS/SINGAPORE, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Chicago wheat rose to its highest in almost nine years Tuesday as the declining condition of the U.S. winter crop raised worries over global supply at a time of tight global stocks and strong international demand. Corn followed suit higher and soybeans also gained ground. The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade (CBOT) was up 0.8% at $8.03-1/2 a bushel, as of 1115 GMT, after hitting a December 2012 high of $8.07 a bushel in earlier trade. It closed 3.2% higher on Monday. In Europe, the Paris-based front-month contract December scored an all-time high of 296.75 euros ($343.96) a tonne while most-traded March hit a 13-1/2 year high of 289.00 euros per tonne. U.S. corn rose 0.3% to $5.80-3/4 a bushel and soybeans gained 0.5% at $12.54-1/2 a bushel. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) rated 45% of the 2022 winter wheat crop in "good-to-excellent" condition. That was 3 percentage points below analyst expectations. "There are concerns about the upcoming (wheat) crop at a time when global stocks are already low and demand is strong. That"s quite an explosive combination," a European trader said. 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. "Wheat prices are not expected to fall noticeably in the near future. Prices are in fact rising across the board, which makes it impossible to switch to different suppliers," Commerzbank said in a note. 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. 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%. 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. Prices at 1115 GMT Last Change Pct Move CBOT wheat 803.50 6.25 0.78 CBOT corn 580.75 1.75 0.30 CBOT soy 1254.25 5.75 0.46 Paris wheat March 287.75 3.25 1.14 Paris maize Nov 239.50 14.50 6.44 Paris rape Nov 694.00 4.75 0.69 WTI crude oil 83.86 -0.19 -0.23 Euro/dlr 1.16 0.00 -0.08 Most active contracts - Wheat, corn and soy US cents/bushel, Paris futures in euros per tonne (Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)