Corn futures at the Chicago Board of Trade ended sharply lower on Monday as a turn to drier weather in the water-logged US Midwest weighed on prices, traders said.
Less rain than expected this weekend in the Midwest gave US corn fields a chance to dry out. That, along with warmer temperatures, should give the plants a big boost - and both factors were considered bearish.
From 0.10 inch to 0.50 inch of rain fell in the western Corn Belt this weekend, and the eastern belt was mostly dry, said Meteorlogix weather service. But rain was forecast for the Midwest later this week.
Option volatility was off, falling 4 percent in July options and 3 percent in December, option traders said. The drop reflects a decline in market uncertainty, they said.
CBOT corn futures through July 2005 ended 7 to 8 cents per bushel lower, with July down 8 at $3.00-1/4. New-crop December was 7-1/4 down at $3.03-1/2.
July came under the most pressure as commodity funds rolled their July longs to September and December. Funds ended the day about even, traders said. Commercials were also on both sides of the market, with spreading the focus.
Estimated volume was large at 96,102 futures and 29,457 options.
Corn futures rallied last week because of excessive rainfall and some flooding in the Midwest. There were fears that the flooding meant fewer US corn acres and a drop in yields from what traders expected earlier.
There was a variety of views among traders on whether USDA would raise or lower US corn crop condition ratings by 1 to 3 percentage points in Monday's crop progress report after recent rains.
After the close, USDA rated 68 percent of the crop good-to-excellent as of Sunday, even with the previous week.
USDA also said late Monday that its monthly crop reports will be released a day early on Thursday. US government offices will be shut on Friday to observe the national day of mourning for former US President Ronald Reagan.
CBOT grain markets will also close their open-outcry day session on Friday.
Exports were quiet over the weekend and Midwest cash basis markets on Monday were mostly steady. CIF corn at the US Gulf was steady to firm.
USDA reported early Monday that last week's export inspections for corn reached 40.939 million bushels.
Even though the tally was on the high end of trade estimates for 36.0 million to 41.0 million bushels, weekly inspections need to average just under 50 million through the end of the marketing year on August 31 to meet USDA's export projections of 2.0 billion bushels, analysts said.
Friday's CFTC trade data showed that large speculators shifted course and boosted their huge long position in CBOT corn futures in the week ended Tuesday, June 1. They were long 161,539 contracts, up 5,750, and short 54,119, down 7,004.
CBOT oat futures ended 3-1/2 to 3 cents per bushel lower as the drop in the neighbouring pits weighed on the market. July closed 3-1/2 down at $1.44-3/4; December ended 3 down at $1.58 and came under pressure from early long liquidation by commodity funds, traders said.
Comments
Comments are closed.