CBOT soybeans close lower on US harvest pressure

CHICAGO, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures closed lower on Monday on pressure from the expanding U.S. harvest and worries about the absence of demand for U.S. soy from top global buyer China, traders said.

• CBOT November soybeans SX25 settled down 3-1/4 cents at $10.10-1/2 per bushel.

• CBOT December soymeal SMZ25 ended up 80 cents at $275.40 per short ton while December soyoil BOZ25 fell 0.50 cent to finish at 49.69 cents per pound.

• Warm and dry weather over the U.S. Corn Belt promoted harvest progress over the weekend, and forecasts called for more of the same this week.

• Ahead of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's weekly crop progress report due later on Monday, analysts surveyed by Reuters on average expected the government to report the U.S. soybean harvest as 19% complete, up from 9% a week earlier.

• The USDA reported export inspections of U.S. soybeans in the latest week at 593,956 metric tons, in line with trade expectations for 450,000 to 900,000 tons. USDA/I

• Traders were squaring positions ahead of Tuesday's USDA quarterly grain stocks report, which has a history of jolting futures markets.

• Ahead of the quarterly report, analysts surveyed by Reuters on average expected the agency to report U.S. September 1 soybean stocks at 323 million bushels, down 5.6% from a year earlier.

• The estimate is also below the 330 million bushels that the USDA projected for 2024/25 soybean ending stocks in its last monthly supply/demand report on September 12.

• Soybean planting is under way in Brazil, the world's biggest exporter of the oilseed. Planting reached 3.2% of the expected area as of last Thursday, agribusiness consultancy AgRural said, above the year-ago pace of 2%.