SINGAPORE - Chicago corn futures on Friday were on track for their biggest weekly loss in two months, as lower demand for U.S. supplies and harvest pressure weighed on the market.

Soybeans were little changed after closing nearly 1% higher on Thursday on renewed optimism about an interim U.S.-China trade deal after government officials said it could include a phased rollback of tariffs.

The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade is down 3.5% this week, the biggest loss since Sept. 6.

Soybeans Sv1 were almost flat for the week after climbing 1.8% last week and wheat Wv1 has lost 0.6% this week, the third straight weekly loss.

Export sales of U.S. corn and wheat were near the low end of trade expectations, which weighed on both markets, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data. 

"U.S. export sales data published overnight continue to show that sales are slow," said Tobin Gorey, director of agricultural strategy at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

"U.S. export sales are, by one methodology, about 4 million tonnes behind where they would normally be by now. That anomaly is just too big to ignore, so prices fell."

The USDA said about 1.8 million tonnes of soybeans were sold for export last week, above expectations for 600,000 to 1.2 million tonnes. The sales included 956,300 tonnes bound for China. 

The USDA said private exporters sold another 136,000 tonnes of the soybeans to China this week. 

China and the United States have agreed to roll back tariffs on each others' goods in a "phase one" trade deal if it is completed, officials from both sides said on Thursday, sparking division among some advisers to President Donald Trump.

Price moves were restrained by caution ahead of Friday's USDA report, scheduled for release at noon EST (1700 GMT), with the consensus in a Reuters poll suggesting it will cut the outlook for both U.S. soybeans and corn. 

Commodity funds were net sellers of CBOT corn, wheat and soyoil futures contracts on Thursday, and net buyers of soybean and soymeal futures, traders said.

 

(Reporting by Naveen Thukral; editing by Uttaresh.V) ((naveen.thukral@thomsonreuters.com; +65-6870-3829; Reuters Messaging: naveen.thukral.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))