US corn futures ended lower on Wednesday on a technical correction including profit-taking after a rally early this week to record highs, traders said. "Corn right now continues rangebound with an upward bias and waiting for something to happen, and it will probably be the end of the month March plantings report.
We're just kind of waiting it out right now," said Shawn McCambridge, analyst for Prudential Financial. Chicago Board of Trade corn closed 6-1/4 cents per bushel lower to 1/2 cent higher, with March down 5-1/2 at $5.25 per bushel.
Record-high corn prices are pressuring countries to abandon policies of not using genetically modified (GMO) corn for food, with South Korea buying its first cargo recently and talk that Japan may follow suit, US grain traders said late on Tuesday.
At least one of the four South Korean firms, Daesang Corp, planning to import GMO corn for food use for the first time in May, will continue to buy the product, a source at the company said on Wednesday.
Attention on crop weather is in South America with mostly favourable weather seen in Argentina's corn and soy regions, DTN Meteorlogix weather said on Wednesday. Argentina is the No 2 global corn exporter behind the United States. Technical traders are watching the March contract trade above all key moving averages with first support at its 20-day moving average of $5.10-1/2 per bushel.
The nine-day relative strength index is at 62. Traders view an RSI of 70 or more as an overbought market and 30 or less as an oversold market. Oat futures were down 4-1/2 to 5-1/2 cents, with March down 4-3/4 at $4.12-1/2 per bushel.