Chicago Board of Trade July corn futures were weak at the 1:15 pm CDT (1815 GMT) close of pit trade on Wednesday on profit-taking after the early week rally to a 4-week high but other months were higher in a volatile US Midwest weather market. Dry weather is expected to keep stress on US Midwest corn and soyabean crops for at least the next two weeks, an agricultural meteorologist said on Wednesday.
"There's not much change in the forecasts, still not much rain for the next couple of weeks in the dry areas such as Indiana and southern Illinois," said Andy Karst, meteorologist for World Weather Inc. Karst said plentiful rainfall had been received in the north and north-west Midwest but the central and south-east remained too dry. "It doesn't look good, there will be occasional spotty rains but there will be increased stress for the next two weeks," Karst said. Temperatures will be a little cooler beginning mid-week with highs in the 80s F rather than the 9 US livestock analysts polled by Reuters on average forecast that cattle placements in feedlots rose 13 percent in May.