Chicago corn futures slid for a seventh consecutive session on Monday, to their lowest since 2016, sapped by massive US planting prospects and renewed weakness in crude oil that underscored crumbling demand for corn-based ethanol.
US soyabeans also slid to a two-week low at midday, before edging higher on signs that drought conditions in South America could erode Brazil's bumper harvest.
Still, soyabean futures could not shake market worries that soyameal feed demand may wane in the coming months, as the coronavirus pandemic roils the global food supply chain and US consumers show signs of moving to recessionary food buying patterns.
Meanwhile, weather concerns in part of the US Great Plains and the Black Sea region lifted wheat, with a potential US cold snap and dryness in Eastern Europe, Ukraine and Southern Russia.
The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade was down 2 cents at $3.28-3/4 a bushel by 11:45 a.m. (1645 GMT), hitting a session low of $3.25-1/2, unseen since September 2016. Corn registered life-of-contract lows in every trading month.
Corn has set a series of 3-1/2 year lows in the past month as collapsing oil prices hammered demand for ethanol fuel, which absorbs around a third of the US corn crop. Lower livestock prices raised market worries of fewer feeder cattle and live hogs for the remainder of 2020, which also rippled through soyabean and corn markets.
CBOT soyabeans were up 3-3/4 cents at $8.58 a bushel. CBOT wheat added 8-1/2 cents to $5.57-3/4 a bushel.
Wheat rallied last month, spurred by extra demand for cereal staples as households reacted to lockdown orders to contain the novel coronavirus, before retreating last week as panic buying eased. But signs remain that countries are looking to bolster reserves.
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