Chicago Board of Trade corn futures closed lower on Tuesday, with the bellwether December contract setting a three-month low on spillover weakness from wheat and beneficial rains falling in the US Midwest, traders said. CBOT December corn settled down 5-3/4 cents at $3.68-3/4 per bushel after dipping to $3.68-1/4, its lowest since May 13.
Technical selling accelerated as the contract fell below chart support at its Aug. 15 low of $3.69 a bushel. Corn futures pared early advances and turned lower as radar showed beneficial rain falling on Tuesday in parts of Illinois, Missouri, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Futures drew early support from the US Department of Agriculture's weekly crop progress report, which rated 56% of the US corn crop in good-to-excellent condition, down 1 percentage point from a week ago. Analysts had expected no change.
Additional early support stemmed from news that the annual Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour found below-average yields in its first day of scouting. The tour late on Monday projected the Ohio corn yield at 154.35 bushels per acre, sharply lower than a year ago, and the South Dakota corn yield at 154.08 bushels per acre, below the tour's three-year average of 158.59. The tour was expected to release yield projections for Indiana and Nebraska later on Tuesday.