Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) corn futures rose on Friday on technical buying, after a five-day decline to one-month lows, traders said. CBOT December corn closed up 1-3/4 cents at $3.62-3/4 per bushel. The contract earlier fell to $3.60-1/2, which matched a one-month low set on Thursday. For the week, the contract lost about 4.2 percent.
The market has been under pressure from expectations for a large US harvest. Advisory service Pro Farmer estimated US corn production at 14.501 billion bushels, based on an average yield of 177.3 bushels per acre. That was below USDA's latest estimates.
A Pro Farmer crop tour this week projected above-average corn yields in Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. Traders said the tour's findings supported expectations for a large harvest, after the USDA previously projected farmers would produce a record-large corn yield. The USDA on Monday is set to provide an update on crop development in a weekly progress report.