CBOT corn ends lower ahead of monthly USDA supply/demand report

CHICAGO: Chicago Board of Trade corn futures ended lower Monday as traders adjusted positions ahead of a monthly supply-and-demand report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in which the government is expected to raise its forecast of U.S. corn ending stocks.

CBOT May corn unofficially ended down 2-3/4 cents at $3.59-3/4 per bushel.

Ahead of the USDA's supply/demand report, the average estimate among analysts surveyed by Reuters for the amount of corn left over at the end of the 2018/19 marketing year was 1.991 billion bushels, up from USDA's March forecast of 1.835 billion.

Ahead of the USDA's weekly crop progress report due later on Monday, analysts on average expected the government to report the corn crop as 2 percent seeded as of Sunday.

A storm is forecast to bring rain and potentially heavy snow to northwestern portions of the U.S. Corn Belt on Wednesday and Thursday, but traders were unconcerned about planting delays.

The storm could drop 6 to 12 inches of snow, with a few locally heavier amounts of 18 inches, to parts of South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, the Commodity Weather Group said in a note to clients.

The USDA reported export inspections of U.S. corn in the latest week at 1,035,423 tonnes, in line with trade expectations for 1 million to 1.3 million tonnes.