GRAINS-Soybeans ease as market awaits Chinese purchases

By Heather Schlitz

CHICAGO, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Chicago soybeans fell for the first time in three sessions on Tuesday, as the market came under pressure amid a lack of large-scale purchases by China, the world's biggest importer of the oilseed, despite earlier announcements from U.S. officials.

Corn ticked higher as analysts assessed the quality of the U.S. corn crop, while wheat prices were choppy as dealers awaited official U.S. world supply and demand data on Friday for the first time in weeks following the U.S. government shutdown.

Chicago Board of Trade most-active soybeans Sv1 settled 2-3/4 cents lower at $11.27-1/4 per bushel. Corn > settled up 2-1/4 cents at $4.32 per bushel, and wheat Wv1 settled up 1/4 cent to $5.36 per bushel.

China started modest purchases of U.S. farm products after a meeting of leaders of both countries, but traders await more significant soybean buying after the White House said Beijing pledged to buy 12 million tons by the end of 2025.

"It's been 12 days since the U.S. and China have had some kind of deal, and we've yet to see any specifics from the Chinese," said Dan Basse, president of AgResource.

U.S. harvest of soybeans and corn was nearly complete on Sunday, with soybean harvesting 96% finished and the corn crop 92% complete, a Reuters poll of analysts showed.

Analysts remain unsure whether dryness and diseases during the growing period for the U.S. corn crop significantly affected the yield and quality.

Market players were also adjusting positions ahead of world crop supply and demand reports due on Friday from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that will include the agency's first U.S. and global crop estimates since September because of the U.S. government shutdown.

A poll of analysts surveyed by Reuters on average expected the USDA to lower its U.S. corn yield estimate to 184.0 bushels per acre (bpa), from 186.7 in its last estimate released on September 12.

Analysts pegged the U.S. soybean yield at 53.1 bpa, below USDA's September 12 estimate of 53.5 bpa.