CBOT corn hits 5-year high on US crop worries, firm cash markets

CHICAGO: Chicago Board of Trade corn futures hit a five-year high on Friday on firm cash markets and technical buying as forecasts for more showers in the eastern Midwest next week clouded the outlook for production, traders said.

* CBOT July corn settled up 11 cents at $4.53 per bushel after reaching $4.57-1/4, a contract high and the highest for a most-active contract since June 2014.

* Technical buying accelerated as the front seven corn futures contracts, including new-crop December, set contract

highs.

* Front-month July corn gained against back months on spreads, reflecting firm domestic cash markets.

* The spot basis bid for corn at Decatur, Illinois, a processing hub, climbed to 14 cents above CBOT July futures this week, up from 7 cents at the start of the month, reflecting increased processor demand and a lack of farmer selling amid uncertainty about the size of the 2019 crop.

* Corn basis bids have also firmed at rail hubs in Indiana and Ohio.

* "These eastern Corn Belt end-users, they are deathly afraid that they are not going to have any corn to draw on. That's why the spread has just exploded," said Tom Fritz, a partner at EFG Group in Chicago.