Funds cut long in CBOT corn, soybeans to 2010 levels

It was the third straight week that the noncommercial traders, a category that includes hedge funds, lightened their long position in CBOT soybeans.

Speculators also trimmed their net long stake in CBOT corn for the fourth straight week while widening their net short position in CBOT wheat. The 5 percent cut in corn left speculators with their smallest long position since August 2010.

In CBOT soybeans, speculators cut 2,842 long contracts while adding 2,792 shorts, leaving them net long 50,860 contracts as of May 17, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's weekly Commitments of Traders report

Soybean futures prices were flat in the week ended May 17 amid growing concerns that US farmers will switch some of their intended acreage to soybeans due to planting delays. Open interest in soybeans fell by 1.2 percent.

The noncommercial traders slashed 9,007 long contracts and added 2,734 shorts to their position, leaving them net long 226,182 corn contracts. The speculators were net long 185,493 as of Aug 3, 2010.

The long liquidation by funds came even as CBOT corn prices rose 2 percent in the five trading days ended May 17.

Funds were likely to reverse that trend in next week's report due to sharp gains in CBOT grains and oilseeds this week.

"They are trend following and their systems got turned on," said Jim Hemminger, senior risk manager with Top Third Ag Marketing. "I would almost bet money on it that next week we will see some pretty good buying show up on that report."

Large speculators cut 8,640 longs in wheat and added 4,339 shorts, leaving them net short 24,083 contracts.

Index funds, which typically hold positions for longer periods of time, cut just 664 long contracts in CBOT corn while adding 6,923 shorts, leaving them net long 380,115 contracts.

In CBOT wheat, index traders were net long 207,258 contracts, down 2,392 from a week earlier. Index traders cut their net long in CBOT soybeans by 1,443 contracts to 163,572 contracts.