SINGAPORE - Chicago soybean futures lost ground on Monday as imports by the world's biggest buyer China dropped for the first time since 2011, following a trade war between Washington and Beijing.

Wheat slid after two days of gains which were driven by expectations of increased demand for U.S. supplies due to shortage in rival exporters Russia and Ukraine.

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade fell 0.3 percent at $9.07-3/4 a bushel as of 0310 GMT, having firmed 0.4 percent on Friday.

Wheat was down 0.3 percent at $5.18 a bushel, while corn unchanged at $3.78-1/4 a bushel.

China's 2018 soybean imports fell by 7.9 percent from a year earlier to 88.03 million tonnes, the General Administration of Customs said on Monday.

That was the first annual drop since 2011, according to Reuters records. China's December soybean imports at 5.72 million tonnes, according to Reuters calculations, are the lowest December total since 2011.

"China isn't buying U.S. beans, despite expectations that they would eventually need to tap the U.S. market," said Phin Ziebell, agribusiness economist at National Australia Bank.

The top soy importer has booked an estimated 5 million tonnes of U.S. soybeans over the past month, but no further deals have been reported.

U.S. officials expect China's top trade negotiator may visit Washington this month, signalling that higher-level discussions

are likely to follow last week's talks with mid-level officials in Beijing as the world's two largest economies try to hammer out a deal to end a tit-for-tat tariff war.

Agricultural consultancy Safras & Mercado on Friday slashed its forecast for Brazil's 2018/19 soybean crop by 6.5 million tonnes to 115.72 million tonnes, citing a prolonged dry spell in southern parts of the country.

Expectations that thinning supplies in Russia would raise export opportunities for U.S. wheat underpinned prices.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture would have normally published a fresh crop forecast on Friday but updates have been postponed indefinitely due to the government shutdown.       

(Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Rashmi Aich)

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