GRAINS-Chicago grains subdued as USDA stocks report looms

By Gus Trompiz and Naveen Thukral

PARIS/SINGAPORE, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Chicago soybean, corn and wheat futures edged lower on Tuesday as U.S. harvest progress and a lack of Chinese demand hung over the markets, while traders awaited U.S. grain stocks estimates.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's quarterly stocks report, due at 1600 GMT, is one of the most closely tracked publications in grain markets.

The run-up to a possible U.S. government shutdown from Wednesday also encouraged caution on grain and wider financial markets. MKTS/GLOB

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade Sv1 was down 0.4% at $10.06-1/2 a bushel by 1145 GMT.

It earlier touched a one-week low but continued to hold above the $10 psychological floor. The price benchmark was set for monthly and quarterly losses.

"The outlook for U.S. soybean prices is bearish," said one oilseed trader in Singapore. "There is no buying from the biggest importer (China), and U.S. new crop supplies are hitting the market."

U.S. soybean exporters are missing out on business to China amid a trade war between the two nations, with rival suppliers from South America taking their share.

After Buenos Aires briefly suspended grain export taxes last week, around 40 Argentine soybean cargoes, mostly for China, registered for export in November and December - the prime U.S. marketing season.

Warm and dry weather over the U.S. grain belt helped harvesting over the weekend, and forecasts called for more of the same this week.

The U.S. corn harvest was 18% complete by Sunday and the soybean harvest was 19% complete, the USDA said in a weekly crop report after the market closed on Monday.

CBOT corn Cv1 was down 0.6% at $4.19 a bushel, while CBOT wheat Wv1 ticked down 0.2% at $5.18-1/4 a bushel.

Wheat is on course to post declines in September and over the third quarter.

Corn, which has found support from brisk exports and doubts over U.S. yield potential, was set to be virtually unchanged over the month and higher for the quarter.

A looming U.S. government shutdown, amid political deadlock over short-term funding measures, could disrupt official statistics including USDA data.

"U.S. government shutdowns are not automatically bearish for agriculture markets, but, frustratingly, we'll be without government reports for a while," Peak Trading Research said.