Chicago Board of Trade corn futures closed lower on Wednesday as continuing ideal weather for the now-pollinating Midwest corn crop outweighed supportive US corn export news, traders said.
CBOT corn futures settled down 1-1/2 cents to 7-3/4 cents per bushel, with September down 7-3/4 cents at $2.26-1/4 and December down 7-1/2 cents at $2.34-1/2. Both contracts set nine-month lows.
Funds sold up to 10,000 contracts and commercials were also net sellers, brokers said. Corn futures volume was estimated at 97,841 contracts, versus 85,237 lots on Tuesday. Corn options volume was estimated at 66,296 contracts.
Goldenberg Hehmeyer sold 1,500 December, Cargill Investor services and O'Connor each sold 1,000 December, they said.
Reface sold 1,200 September and 500 December, while ADM Investor Services sold 500 December, they added.
In options trade, Man Financial bought 1,500 $2.40 September calls and sold 1,500 $2.20 December puts in the featured action of the day, pit brokers said.
The US Department of Agriculture on Monday rated 76 percent of the US corn crop in good to excellent condition, up two percentage points from a week.
Last week, in its July update, the USDA added 210 million bushels to its June estimate of the US corn crop, bringing its estimate to a projected record 10.635 billion bushels. But CBOT traders were beginning to talk about a potential 11 billion bushel crop this season, with the market adage that "big crops get bigger" in the background.
Forecaster Meteorlogix on Wednesday said growing conditions in the Corn Belt remain near ideal.
Scattered showers and thunderstorms of 0.25 inch to 1.00 inch were reported in northern Iowa and southern Minnesota, with light showers in eastern Nebraska and south-eastern South Dakota, all key corn areas.
Temperatures were expected to stay above normal with highs in the upper 80s to middle 90s Fahrenheit in both the eastern and western Corn Belt. But abundant soil moisture continues to provide a good buffer against the heat as the US Midwest corn crop pollinates and fills out kernels on the ears of the plant.
CBOT traders expect 2004 corn yields to set records and average 145 bushels per acre or higher. US corn export news was supportive overnight, and the CIF barge corn market was steady on Wednesday.