Corn down for 2nd session after five-year high; soy, wheat follow

CHICAGO: US corn futures fell about 2% on Wednesday, sagging for a second straight session as an absence of fresh bullish news prompted investors to book profits after multi-year highs set this week.

Soybean and wheat futures followed the weak trend, with a few analysts citing improving US weather forecasts.

Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) July corn settled down 8-3/4 cents at $4.41 per bushel. July soybeans ended down 10-1/4 cents at $9.03-1/4 a bushel and July wheat finished down 9-1/4 cents at $5.22-1/4 a bushel.

"Right now, I think this is nothing but liquidation. The bull market needs to be fed every day," said Tom Fritz, a partner with EFG Group in Chicago.

Commodity funds liquidated a massive net short position in CBOT corn during May and flipped to a net long position this month as unprecedented Midwest planting delays threatened US corn production prospects, sending CBOT corn futures soaring.

CBOT July corn peaked at $4.64-1/4 a bushel on Monday, the highest for a most-active contract since June 2014, before easing on Tuesday and Wednesday.

However, front-month July gained on Wednesday relative to the September and December contracts on spreads, reflecting firm domestic cash markets for the yellow grain.

End-users such as ethanol and livestock producers have been bidding up for supplies of old-crop corn in recent weeks due to uncertainty about the size of the 2019 crop.

Some analysts tied Wednesday's weaker tone in futures to weather outlooks calling for drier conditions in the Midwest and parts of the Plains that could bolster soybean planting progress and the harvest of winter wheat. But other forecasts predicted that wet weather would persist.

"Forecast is unchanged. Rain should be active across eastern, central, and west central areas through Sunday," space technology company Maxar said in a daily weather note, referring to the Midwest corn and soybean belt.

CBOT wheat futures closed lower, following corn and soybeans.

Egypt's state grains buyer purchased 290,000 tonnes of wheat in an international tender, including 110,000 tonnes of Russian and 180,000 tonnes of Romanian wheat.

No US wheat was offered. Cash prices for US wheat have firmed in the export market since early May as CBOT wheat futures have followed corn futures higher.

In the Egyptian tender, Russian wheat offers on a free-on-board (FOB) basis ranged from $196.86 to $204 per tonne, while trade sources said US soft red winter wheat at the US Gulf was offered this week near $233 to $234 FOB.

"The world wheat market is still bearish," said Ted Seifried, chief agriculture market strategist for Zaner Group in Chicago.