GRAINS-Soybeans below $10/bushel for 1st time in seven weeks; corn, wheat down

By Naveen Thukral

SINGAPORE, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Chicago soybean futures slid for a third consecutive session on Wednesday, dropping below $10 a bushel for the first time in seven weeks, as lacklustre demand for U.S. supplies and the harvest of a bumper crop pressured prices.

Corn lost more ground, while wheat slid to its lowest since mid-August after the U.S. Department of Agriculture released a quarterly report showing bigger-than-expected inventories.

"Soybean prices are testing lows we have not seen for several weeks," said one oilseed trader in Singapore. "We don't see a recovery in soybean prices as long as China remains out of the U.S. market."

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade Sv1 slid 0.7% to $9.95-1/4 a bushel as of 0223 GMT, the weakest since August 12.

Corn Cv1 gave up 0.3% to $4.14-1/4 a bushel and wheat Wv1 fell 0.3% to $5.06-1/2 a bushel, the lowest since August 14.

A lack of export demand for soybeans has been the primary factor weighing on futures. 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.

On the stocks front, U.S. farmers and grain handlers had 13% less corn in storage ahead of the autumn harvest than a year earlier, USDA data showed on Tuesday, although a record-large crop was set to replenish inventories.

There were 1.532 billion bushels of corn in storage as of September 1, above analysts' expectations of 1.337 billion bushels.

For wheat, stocks reached a five-year high of 2.120 billion bushels on September 1, up from 1.992 billion bushels a year earlier, according to the USDA. Analysts expected 2.043 billion bushels.

Argentina is set to harvest a record corn crop in the 2025/26 season, the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange said on Tuesday, forecasting production in the world's third-largest exporter to total 58 million metric tons.