SINGAPORE  - Chicago soybeans edged lower on Thursday as the market stepped back from last session's near one-week top although demand for U.S. beans kept a floor under the market.

Wheat dipped for a second straight session but losses were limited by forecasts of lower output in Europe, while corn eased after three consecutive days of gains.

The most-active soybean futures on the Chicago Board Of Trade was down 0.1 percent at $8.56-3/4 a bushel as of 0313 GMT, after rising for three consecutive sessions to hit its highest since July 11 on Wednesday.

Wheat lost 0.2 percent to $4.93-3/4 a bushel, having closed down 0.7 percent on Wednesday. Corn fell 0.1 percent to $3.60-1/2 a bushel, having gained 0.3 percent in the previous session.

"U.S. soybeans have done enough to make shipments viable to China with 25 percent duty," said Ole Houe, director of advisory services at brokerage IKON Commodities in Sydney.

"China has not bought U.S. beans yet but they will have to step in by September-October."

China's buyers have booked soybeans from Brazil, instead of the United States, because of a 25 percent tariff on imports of U.S. soy that Beijing enacted on July 6.

China's retaliatory tariffs on U.S. soybeans have triggered bargain shopping by importers in other countries stocking up on cheap U.S. supplies.

More buying emerged on Thursday as the U.S. Department of Agriculture said exporters struck deals to sell 199,500 metric tonnes of U.S. soybeans to Pakistan for delivery in the 2018-19 marketing year.

For wheat, dryness in European Union countries has coincided with declining harvest prospects in Russia, the world's largest exporter of the grain.

Underscoring the impact of parched conditions in northern Europe, Germany's farming association DBV said it was unable to estimate the size of the wheat crop.

Farmers in Ukraine have harvested around 16.7 million tonnes of grain from the 2018 harvest and the yield averaged 3.13 tonnes per hectare, the agriculture ministry said on Wednesday.

Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT corn, soybeans and soyoil futures contracts on Wednesday, and net sellers of soymeal and wheat, traders said. (Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

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