GRAINS-Soybeans, corn fall on China demand worries, US crop tour awaited

By Michael Hogan

HAMBURG, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Chicago soybean and corn futures fell on Monday, pressured by favourable U.S. weather and concerns over low export demand as trade tensions between the U.S. and top buyer China continued.

Expectations a closely-watched crop tour in the United States this week will boost expectations of large U.S. corn harvest also weakened corn.

Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) most active soybeans Sv1 fell 0.5% to $10.37-1/4 per bushel at 1110 GMT.

Corn Cv1 fell 0.5% to $4.03 a bushel. Wheat Wv1 fell 0.4% to $5.24-1/2 a bushel.

“Weather in the U.S. Midwest continues to be favourable for soybeans, with sunshine this week set to help crops reach their finishing line,” said Matt Ammermann, StoneX commodity risk manager. “U.S. new crop soybean export sales are exceptionally slow, and there is still no news about any U.S.-China trade deal to generate Chinese buying of U.S. soybeans.”

“The whole growing season has been nearly perfect for U.S. corn and it continues to be so.”

U.S. President Donald Trump last week urged China to quadruple its soybean purchases, but news was lacking about progress in U.S.-China trade talks, while U.S. soybean exporters are missing out on China sales.

Traders are awaiting estimates from this week’s Pro Farmer Midwest U.S. crop tour, which will estimate corn yields and gauge soybean production potential across seven U.S. states after forecasts by the U.S. agriculture department last week of a record-large U.S. corn crop.

“Wheat remains lower on the outlook for large world supplies which will be seeking buyers, with U.S. export sales still pretty impressive but even more demand is needed at current prices," Ammermann said. "The EU and Black Sea are also likely to intensify competition to U.S. wheat in export markets soon.”