US corn futures fell on Friday in thin trade, pressured by softening cash values and outlooks for optimal crop weather in the Midwest, traders said. Nearby soyabeans were choppy but new-crop November futures on the Chicago Board of Trade hit a one-month low, and wheat futures were little changed.
At the CBOT as of 10:35 am CDT (1535 GMT), July corn was down 7-3/4 cents at $6.65-1/2 per bushel, with new-crop December down 1-3/4 cents at $5.58-3/4. July soyabeans were up 1 cent at $14.98-1/2 per bushel while new-crop November was down 8 cents at $12.77, after hitting a near one-month low at $12.67-3/4. July wheat was down 1 cent at $6.99-1/2.
"Bear-spreading" featured in the corn market, with traders selling nearby contracts and buying new-crop months, due in part to softening cash corn basis levels in some locations, including Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Chicago. Tight supplies of old-crop corn and soyabeans have kept cash basis bids at or near historically high levels in the interior Midwest. CBOT soyabeans showed the opposite pattern, nearby contracts gaining against new-crop contracts on "bull spreading." The most-active November soyabean contract has fallen 2.6 percent since Wednesday, its biggest two-day decline since February.