GRAINS-US soybean futures retreat after 1-month high; corn, wheat sag

By Julie Ingwersen

CHICAGO, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures closed lower on Tuesday on profit-taking after the benchmark contract Sv1 touched a one-month high, while market players continued to monitor U.S.-China trade relations, analysts said.

Corn futures eased after a five-session climb and wheat followed the weaker trend, anchored by plentiful world grain supplies.

CBOT November soybeans SX25 settled down 1 cent at $10.30-3/4 per bushel, fading after a climb to $10.38, the contract's highest since September 19.

CBOT December corn CZ25 ended down 3-1/2 cents at $4.19-3/4 a bushel and December wheat WZ25 finished down 4-1/2 cents at $5.00-1/4 a bushel.

Soybeans paused after a one-week rally tied to hopes for renewed U.S. soy purchases by top global buyer China. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he expects to work out a fair trade deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping and that he wants Beijing to buy soybeans, ahead of his planned meeting with Xi in South Korea next week.

"It's been about time for a little bit of profit-taking to set in," said Jack Scoville, vice president at Price Futures Group in Chicago.

Corn futures fell after the benchmark December contract failed to push through chart-based resistance at around $4.25 a bushel, Scoville said. The contract has spent this month bouncing between $4.25 and $4.09 a bushel as the U.S. harvest rolls on and market players await clarity on crop size.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture did not release its monthly October crop production report due to the government shutdown, and the next edition is scheduled for November 10. In September, the USDA projected a record-large corn crop of 16.8 billion bushels.

Firm domestic cash markets lent underlying support to corn futures as farmers work to hold their grain off the market. "The farmer, even though he's harvested quite a bit, hasn't sold a thing. He sold a few more beans but very little corn," Scoville said.

CBOT wheat Wv1 ticked down and held near a five-year low set last week, as increased production estimates for major exporting countries maintained supply pressure.

Analysts have raised estimates for Australia's wheat harvest, a Reuters poll showed on Monday, while consultancy IKAR said on Tuesday it had further raised its estimate for Russia's wheat crop.