GRAINS-Soybeans fall further on concerns about pace of Chinese buying

CANBERRA, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Chicago soybean futures fell for a fourth straight session on Wednesday, hitting six-week lows, amid doubts that China will buy enough U.S. beans to prevent prices from losing ground in a well-supplied market.

Wheat futures continued their losing run to a fourth session after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) raised its estimates for global production and end-of-season inventories.

Corn also edged lower after rising 1% on Tuesday, when the USDA said U.S. exports would be larger than it had previously projected, leaving behind smaller U.S. ending stocks.

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Sv1 was down 0.3% at $10.84 a bushel at 0536 GMT, with CBOT wheat Wv1 dipping 0.2% to $5.33-1/2 a bushel and corn Cv1 shedding 0.1% to $4.47-1/2 a bushel.

Soybeans have fallen 7% from a 17-month high of $11.69-1/2 last month as optimism faded that China would quickly buy 12 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans after agreeing a trade truce with Washington.

The USDA has so far confirmed around 2.9 million tons of U.S. soybean sales to China since the truce in late October. Despite the slow pace of Chinese purchases, the USDA left its U.S. export forecast unchanged on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, favourable weather is helping South American crops, with the USDA retaining its forecast for soybean production in top grower Brazil at a record-high 175 million tons.

Argentina said it would lower export taxes on crops including wheat, soybeans and corn, making them more competitive in the global export market.

In India, the world's second-largest wheat producer, abundant soil moisture is leading farmers to seed record amounts of land with crops including wheat, which will likely raise production.

Wheat supply looks ample, with only the threat of attacks on shipping in the Black Sea offering scope for price rises, said Dennis Voznesenski, an analyst at Commonwealth Bank.

"Production estimates have risen for 2025 crops in key export markets. Furthermore, production prospects are rising for 2026 in key import markets," he said.