Chicago Board of Trade corn futures ended steady on Tuesday as short-covering and worries about US planting delays offset pressure from a larger-than-expected monthly US Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecast of US 2018/19 ending stocks, traders said.
CBOT May corn settled unchanged at $3.60 per bushel after dipping to a contract low of $3.55-1/4. The CBOT July and September contracts also set contract lows before closing unchanged. Futures fell to contract lows after the USDA raised its forecast of domestic corn stocks at the end of the 2018/19 marketing year to 2.035 billion bushels.
The stocks figure was up from 1.835 billion in March and above an average of trade estimates for 1.991 billion. The USDA also raised its forecast of 2018/19 global corn ending stocks to 314.01 million tonnes, from 308.53 million in March.
Commodity funds hold a massive net short position in CBOT corn futures, leaving the market vulnerable to bouts of short-covering. Additional underlying support also stemmed from a spring snowstorm bearing down on the Plains and northwestern Midwest this week, which could delay spring field work.