CHICAGO: US corn futures fell on Thursday on disappointing weekly US export sales and profit-taking after multi-year highs set this week, analysts said.
Wheat futures also fell, retreating from recent six-week highs, while soybean futures rose on brisk export demand.
As of 1:05 p.m. CDT (1805 GMT), Chicago Board of Trade July corn was down 11-1/2 cents at $7.98-1/2 per bushel and July wheat was down 22-3/4 cents at $10.74-3/4 a bushel.
July soybeans were up 8-1/2 cents at $17.25-1/2 per bushel.
Corn extended losses after the US Department of Agriculture reported export sales of US corn in the week ended April 14 at 1.268 million tonnes (old and new crop years combined), below a range of trade expectations.
The market eased after the July contract reached $8.14 a bushel on Tuesday, the highest on a continuous chart of the most-active corn contract since September 2012.
“The market has been going straight up, so we needed to take a breather,” said Ted Seifried, chief agriculture strategist for the Zaner Group.
However, worries about tightening global grain supplies underpinned the market. The International Grains Council forecast that global corn (maize) production would fall by 13 million tonnes in the 2022/23 season to 1.197 billion tonnes reflecting smaller crops in Ukraine and the United States. Soybean futures bucked the weaker trend in grains and turned higher, supported in part by brisk export demand. The USDA reported weekly US soybean sales at 1.7 million tonnes (old and new crop years combined), toward the high end of trade expectations.
“Beans continue to recognizer we are running out of old-crop supplies,” Seifried said.
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