GRAINS-Soybeans hits new 17-months high on Chinese purchases

CANBERRA/PARIS, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Chicago soybean futures rose slightly on Tuesday to reach their highest level since June last year, still supported by China's hefty purchases of U.S. beans.

Wheat also reached a multi-month high while corn futures edged higher.

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Sv1 was up 0.1% at $11.58 a bushel at 1205 GMT, after hitting $11.61-1/4 in early trading.

Prices have climbed by nearly 14% over the last month.

Chinese state-owned grain trader COFCO bought at least 14 cargoes of U.S. soybeans on Monday - around 840,000 metric tons - for shipment in December and January, traders told Reuters.

China has largely shunned U.S. soybeans amid a trade war with Washington. Monday's purchases were the largest since a summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea last month.

The White House said China had agreed to buy 12 million tons of U.S. soybeans this year.

These large volumes justify the rally in soybeans in recent weeks, said Dennis Voznesenski, an analyst at Commonwealth Bank in Sydney.

"If China does buy the amount they talked about, that is a lot of soybeans and there is not a lot of time left in the year to buy them," he said.

The U.S. soybean crush topped all trade forecasts and hit a record high in October, according to a monthly National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) report.

Meanwhile, a cargo of Argentine soybean meal has cleared Chinese customs, two China-based traders said, marking the first such shipment since Beijing approved such imports in 2019 and signalling a new trade channel with the world's top soymeal exporter.

CBOT wheat Wv1 was up 0.2% at $5.59-3/4 a bushel after rising to $5.61-1/4 earlier in the day, its highest since July.

Corn Cv1 gained 0.2% to $4.35-3/4 a bushel, near last week's peak of $4.42-3/4, the highest since June.

Ample global supply still weighs on soybeans, corn and wheat. Soybean and corn prices took a hit on Friday when the U.S. Department of Agriculture reduced its U.S. harvest estimates by a smaller amount than many analysts had expected.