US corn futures on the Chicago Board of Trade closed 2 percent higher on Monday after hitting a two-month high on worries that immature corn will be hurt by a crop-killing freeze, traders said. December corn was up 8 cents at $3.41-1/2 a bushel; March up 7-3/4 at $3.54-1/4. Funds bought an estimated 8,000 lots. Killing freeze seen for US Corn Belt next weekend.
Updated midday outlooks were for colder and wetter weather in the US Corn Belt. Traders also said there was talk that a couple cargoes of US ethanol may be exported to Brazil. Corn was poised for a bounce after Friday's sell-off. Weaker dollar supports. USDA said after the CBOT close only 10 percent of the corn crop was harvested by Sunday, within estimates for 10-12 percent complete but behind the average pace of 25 percent by early October.
Just 57 percent of the US corn crop was mature, compared with 84 percent for the five-year pace-USDA. USDA reported 38.405 million bushels inspected for export last week, above estimates for 32 million to 35 million. Large speculators turn net long in CBOT corn, cutting net short position by nearly 23,000 contracts in week ended Tuesday-CFTC. US Midwest spot basis bids for corn mixed, softer where harvest is expanding and weaker where progress is slow-dealers.
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