SINGAPORE - Chicago soybean futures rose for a fifth straight session on Monday to their highest in almost two weeks after China last week said it will waive import tariffs for some U.S. soybean and pork shipments.

Wheat lost ground after closing marginally higher, while corn ticked up.

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade rose 0.3% to $8.92-1/2 a bushel by 0347 GMT, having earlier in the session climbed to its highest since Nov. 26 high at $8.94-1/4 a bushel.

Wheat Wv1 was down 0.2% at $5.23-1/4 a bushel, while corn added 0.1% at $3.77 a bushel.

"The market is being helped by China granting further tariff waivers on imports of U.S. soybeans," said Tobin Gorey, director of agricultural strategy at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

"The better tone on U.S.-China trade sentiment also helped – but only so much."

The tariff waivers by China were based on applications by individual companies, the finance ministry said in a statement, citing a decision by the country's Cabinet without specifying the quantities involved.

U.S. traders and farmers hope negotiations will ease the trade war and increase Chinese purchases of American agricultural products. The tariff waivers are "good mood music," White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said.

China's November soybean imports jumped from a year ago as shipments from the United States booked during a truce in the Sino-U.S. trade war cleared customs, customs data showed. 

China imported 8.28 million tonnes of soybeans in November, up 54% from 5.38 million tonnes a year ago, as U.S. soybean cargoes arrived, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Sunday.

Canadian farmers produced the smallest canola crop in four years, less than expected, after unusually wet autumn weather that left millions of acres unharvested, a government report showed on Friday.

Farmers produced 18.6 million tonnes of canola, down 8% from last year, Statistics Canada reported, and 1 million tonnes less than the average trade guess before the report. Canada is the world's biggest producer and exporter of canola.

Large speculators trimmed their net short position in CBOT corn futures in the week to Dec. 3, regulatory data released on Friday showed.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's weekly commitments of traders report also showed that non-commercial traders, a category that includes hedge funds, trimmed their net short position in CBOT wheat and increased their net short position in soybeans.

 

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