GRAINS-Soybeans pause as market weighs China prospects

PARIS/CANBERRA, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Chicago soybean futures consolidated on Thursday following a day-earlier rebound as the market assessed chances for a resumption in Chinese demand following comments by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Corn and wheat, which like soybeans hit multi-week lows on Wednesday, extended a bounce, with help from a weaker dollar =USD and signs of fresh demand from wheat importers.

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Sv1 was unchanged on the day at $10.13 a bushel by 0939 GMT. On Wednesday, the contract fell below $10 for the first time in seven weeks before rebounding by the close.

U.S. farmers have lost out on billions of dollars of sales to China, which is the biggest soy importer but hasn't yet bought beans from the autumn U.S. harvest amid a trade war with Washington.

Trump said in a social media post on Wednesday that soybeans would be a major topic of discussion when he meets Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in four weeks.

The post spurred some buying but ample supply and China's continued absence from the U.S. market will likely erase the gains, said Andrew Whitelaw, an analyst at consultants Episode 3 in Australia.

"Nothing has changed other than the promise of soybeans being on the agenda," he said.

Ignoring the U.S., China has ramped up soybean purchases from South America, including a large volume of Argentine soybeans last week during a brief export tax waiver.

CBOT corn Cv1 was up 0.4% at $4.18-1/4 a bushel and CBOT wheat Wv1 added 0.2% to $5.10-1/4 a bushel.

Both cereals touched their lowest since August on Wednesday, with wheat also nearing a five-year low.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's quarterly U.S. grain stocks estimates on Tuesday showed higher corn and wheat inventories than anticipated by analysts, weighing on prices.

Saudi Arabia on Thursday announced a tender to buy 420,000 metric tons of wheat. GRA/TEND

In Europe, where prices have also been around five-year lows, talk of renewed demand for French wheat has supported a bounce in Euronext wheat BL2c1 since Wednesday. GRA/EU

A U.S. government shutdown since Wednesday, amid political deadlock over budget funding, is set to disrupt the USDA's weekly grain export sales report usually published on Thursdays at 1230 GMT.