SINGAPORE - Chicago soybean futures ticked higher on Tuesday, recouping some of the previous session's decline on concerns over adverse weather in South America, although slowing demand in China limited the gains.

Wheat prices firmed after Monday's deep losses, and corn rose having closed last session little changed.

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade added 0.5 percent to $9.07-3/4 a bushel by 0318 GMT, having closed down 0.7 percent on Monday, when prices dropped to their lowest since Jan. 2 at $9.01-1/2 a bushel.

Wheat climbed 0.3 percent to $5.16 a bushel. Corn rose 0.5 percent to $3.80-1/4 a bushel.

"The market is still trying to quantify what the losses may be from the adverse weather, and most estimates come in around the 5 to 10 million tonnes mark," said Ole Houe, director of advisory services at brokerage IKON Commodities in Sydney.

"This is putting some immediate floor in the market, but the political battlefield is likely to have a much larger impact than South American crop losses. Without a resolution to the U.S-China issue, beans are likely to slide back below $9 a bushel again.

" Brazilian agricultural consultancy Agroconsult slashed its forecast for Brazil's 2018/2019 soybean crop by 5.2 million tonnes on Thursday, citing a dry spell that has hurt soy fields. In Argentina, there were problems due to excessive rains.

Grain markets also languished as Chinese trade figures dampened demand sentiment and fuelled worry across financial markets about an economic slowdown in China and beyond.

China's General Administration of Customs said December soy imports fell 40 percent from a year earlier, to the lowest for the month since December 2011. China's soybean imports also fell for all of 2018, the first annual fall since 2011.

U.S. soybean crushing volumes in December were likely the largest on record for that month as soy plants continued their recent strong crushing pace, according to analysts polled ahead of a monthly National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) report.

Fears for the U.S. winter wheat crop eased after several inches of snow fell over the weekend. The snow cover should protect dormant crops as severely cold weather hits the region this week.

Russian agriculture ministry on Monday confirmed its outlook for 2018-19 grain shipments, tempering concerns about limited sales from one of the world's largest exporters.

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

(Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Tom Hogue)

© Reuters News 2019