Chicago Board of Trade corn futures fell on Thursday for a fifth straight session on technical selling and as results from an ongoing US crop tour fuelled expectations of a large US harvest, traders said. CBOT December corn settled down 5-3/4 cents at $3.61 per bushel after falling to $3.60-1/2, its lowest since July 19.
The Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour late Wednesday projected above-average corn yields for Illinois. The tour has also projected above-average yields in Nebraska, South Dakota, Indiana and Ohio. However, tour scouts said crop prospects in western Iowa were mixed after volatile summer weather.
Subsoil moisture has improved across the US Midwest since last week and should favour kernel-filling in corn, Radiant Solutions said in a daily weather note. The USDA reported export sales of US corn in the latest week at 1.23 million tonnes (old- and new-crop years combined), in line with trade expectations for 900,000 to 1.5 million tonnes.
The International Grains Council raised its forecast for 2018/19 world corn production to 1.064 billion tonnes, up 12 million from its previous monthly projection.