GRAINS-Corn rises for third session on limited selling from US farmers

By Naveen Thukral

SINGAPORE, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Chicago corn gained more ground on Thursday, as limited selling of newly harvested crops by U.S. farmers buoyed cash prices and lent support to futures.

Soybeans inched higher on strong pace of U.S. oilseed processing, while wheat firmed, although gains were curbed by ample global supplies.

"There is talk of U.S. farmers holding back some of their supplies and generally speaking, U.S. corn is pretty competitive in the international market," said one feed grains trader in Singapore. "This is supportive for prices at the current level."

The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Cv1 rose 0.3% to $4.18 per bushel by 0232 GMT, extending gains to a third session. Soybeans Sv1 gained 0.3% at $10.09 a bushel and wheat Wv1 rose 0.1% to $4.99 a bushel.

Basis bids for corn and soybeans were mostly steady to firmer at processing sites in the U.S. Midwest on Wednesday as the harvest of both crops progressed despite light scattered rain delays, spot checks showed.

Trading remained largely range-bound as the U.S. government shutdown deprived the market of key crop data such as weekly export sales and updated U.S. Department of Agriculture supply and demand projections. As a result, traders are increasingly looking to cash grain markets for direction.

Monthly crushing data reflected an active U.S. soybean crushing pace in September. The National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) said its members crushed 197.863 million bushels of soybeans last month, up 4.2% from August and the fourth-highest level for any month on record.

Soyoil supplies among NOPA members were also down from a month earlier despite the massive crush, suggesting demand from biofuel makers remains strong.

In other news, Russia, the world's top wheat exporter, resumed shipments to Indonesia in October, the state agriculture watchdog said on Wednesday, after a pause since January due to negotiations between the two countries over access for Russian grains.