US corn and wheat futures fell on Monday to their lowest levels since October, on outlooks for speedy corn plantings in the Midwest and crop-friendly rains in the southern Plains wheat belt. Chicago Board of Trade corn futures extended declines to their sixth straight session amid forecasts for dry weather this week that will allow farmers to work fields.
Analysts polled by Reuters expected the US Department of Agriculture later in the day to report US corn plantings as of Sunday at 21 percent complete, above last year's pace.
"We could have two solid weeks of planting, with some scattered showers in between, which would be pretty much ideal," said Jefferies Bache grains analyst Shawn McCambridge, adding that investors were bearish due to the good US weather.
After the close of trading on Friday, a Commodity Futures Trading Commission report showed speculative investors, including hedge funds, adding to net short positions in each crop.
On Monday, several CBOT wheat contracts notched contract lows at midmorning, pressured by rainfall in Texas and Oklahoma that could boost yields for US wheat varieties that were too high priced to compete in global export markets.
CBOT May wheat was down 11-1/4 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $4.74-3/4 per bushel as of 11:06 am CDT (1606 GMT), after falling to a contract low of $4.73-1/2. On a continuous wheat chart, prices fell to the lowest level since October 1.
CBOT May corn eased a 1/2 cent to $3.64 after earlier falling as low as $3.61, lowest since October 10.
Soyabean futures edged higher, lifted in part by a USDA announcement of that exporters sold 158,000 tonnes of US soyabeans to unknown destinations.
Soyabeans for May delivery were up 7 cents to $9.76-3/4 per bushel, near the roughly two-week high reached on Thursday.
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