Chicago Board of Trade corn futures ended lower on Thursday on disappointing weekly export sales data and expectations for ample old-crop corn inventories that could dampen concerns about US new-crop planting delays, traders said. CBOT May corn settled down 1-3/4 cents at $3.60 per bushel, with new-crop December down 2-1/4 cents at $3.88-1/2.
The US Department of Agriculture reported export sales of US corn in the week to April 4 at 548,000 tonnes, below a range of trade expectations. Brazil's government supply agency, Conab, raised its estimate of the country's 2018/19 all-corn harvest to 94.0 million tonnes, from 92.8 million last month.
Argentina's Rosario grains exchange on Wednesday raised its forecast of the Argentine corn crop to 48 million tonnes, from its previous estimate of 47.3 million. A blizzard pounding South Dakota and Minnesota, two major US corn states, threatened to delay spring planting and prompt farmers to switch some acres from corn to soybeans, which can be planted later in the season.
However, CBOT corn futures remained under pressure following the USDA's larger-than-expected March quarterly stocks figure and 2018-19 corn ending stocks forecast.