SINGAPORE - Chicago corn futures slid for a fifth consecutive session on Tuesday after a weekly U.S. government report rated the crop condition above market forecasts.

Wheat fell as ample supplies from the northern hemisphere flood the market, while soybeans were little changed with the focus on U.S.-China trade talks.

The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade was down 0.4% at $4.25-1/4 a bushel by 0315 GMT, having closed down 1.8% in the previous session when prices hit a low of $4.12 a bushel - the weakest since June 11.

Wheat fell 0.6% at $5.00-1/2 a bushel, having closed up 1.5% on Monday, and soybeans were up 0.03% at $9.04-1/2 a bushel, having firmed 0.4% in the previous session.

"The corn crop is looking better than what had been feared," said Phin Ziebell, agribusiness economist, National Australia Bank. "Especially, given the challenging rains and then heat."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Monday released a weekly crop progress report that raised the good to excellent rating for corn by 1 percentage point to 58%. Analysts had expected it to stay unchanged.

The rating for spring wheat declined 3 percentage points to 73%, below analyst expectations for an unchanged rating.

The rating for Soybeans was unchanged, at 54% good to excellent condition, on par with analysts' estimates.

In the soybean market, the spotlight was on Washington-Beijing trade talks.

U.S. government data on Monday showed exports of soybeans to China picking up to the most in five months last week ahead of trade talks between the two countries in Shanghai, although the shipments were for beans bought months ago and new purchases have proven elusive.

The share of milling wheat in Ukraine's 2019 wheat harvest is likely to rise to as much as 70% from around 55% in 2018 due to hot and dry weather, analysts and traders said on Monday.

Hot conditions across Ukraine in May and June were ideal for a high-quality wheat harvest, pushing up the proportion of food-grade wheat in the crop and creating a shortage of grain for animal feed, which has seen a consequent rise in prices.

SovEcon, one of Russia's leading agriculture consultancies, said on Friday it had lowered its forecast for Russia's grain exports in the 2019/20 marketing season, which started on July 1, by 7 million tonnes to 41.9 million tonnes.

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

(Reporting by Naveen Thukral)

© Reuters News 2019