imageCHICAGO: US corn futures fell more than 1 percent on Wednesday, their biggest daily decline in two weeks, pressured by technical selling and forecasts for improved planting conditions in the US Midwest, traders said.

The extended forecast for the region is mostly dry, which should allow farmers to plant corn after cool and wet weather resulted in a slow start to the planting season, said Kyle Tapley, meteorologist with MDA Weather Services.

I think we will see pretty favorable conditions for planting. We have widespread above-normal temperatures in the 6-10 day, close to normal in the 11-15 day. So things should be improving for planting, especially as we move toward next week," Tapley said.

US ethanol plants produced the corn-based biofuel at their fastest pace last week since early December, data from the US Energy Information Administration showed on Wednesday.

Ukraine's 2013/14 grain exports reached 28.6 million tonnes as of April 16, the agriculture ministry said. Ukraine, which harvested a record 63 million tonnes of grain in 2013, has said it plans to export around 33 million tonnes in the 2013/14 season which runs from July to June.

Ukraine's farmers have sown 2.58 million hectares of early spring grain as of April 16, 92 percent of the expected sowing area, the agriculture ministry said. 1:36 PM CST.

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