Forexpros – Corn futures were down for a fourth day on Thursday, trading at the lowest level since late-January as market participants readjusted positions ahead of a pair of highly-anticipated reports from the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday.
On the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, corn futures for May delivery traded at USD6.1688 a bushel during European morning trade, slumping 0.57%.
It earlier fell by as much as 0.65% to trade at USD6.1662 a bushel, the lowest since January 24.
Corn prices have come under heavy selling pressure in recent sessions, dropping almost 9% since March 19 amid growing speculation that U.S. farmers will plant the biggest corn crop since 1944.
Agricultural commodity traders were eying Friday’s release of the USDA’s acreage projection estimates for how many acres farmers will plant with the grain in the upcoming season.
The department’s estimates often cause wild price swings. Corn futures have tumbled by the daily trading limit on the day of the past three quarterly inventory reports.
Market analysts are expecting U.S. farmers to raise corn plantings to 94.7 million acres, the most in nearly 70 years. Sowing will rise from 91.921 million acres last year and the USDA’s estimate of 94 million acres last month.
The warmest March since records began in 1971 is encouraging farmers to plant corn early, as this usually leads to higher yields.
Corn traders were also awaiting the release of the USDA’s World Supply & Demand Estimates report for the first quarter also due Friday.
Markets are expecting quarterly stocks of corn in the U.S. to total 6.150 billion bushels, the smallest in five-years and below the year ago total of 6.532 billion.
The U.S. produced 38% of the world’s corn last year, making it the both world’s largest corn producing nation and the largest exporter of the grain.
Market talk of heavy fund liquidation ahead of the USDA data also added to the selling pressure.
But expectations that demand from China will remain robust in the near-term continued to provide support.
According to traders, private Chinese importers bought nearly 360,000 tonnes of U.S. corn for shipment in May and June from the U.S. Pacific Northwest in the first large sale to the country since late February.
Elsewhere on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, wheat for May delivery was flat to trade at USD6.3113 a bushel, while soybeans for May delivery eased up 0.1% to trade at USD13.6863 a bushel.
Corn is the biggest U.S. crop, valued at USD66.7 billion in 2010, followed by soybeans at USD38.9 billion, government figures show. Wheat was fourth at USD13 billion, behind hay.
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