US corn futures fell on the Chicago Board of Trade for a second day in a holiday-shortened session on Friday on "risk aversion" trade as concerns about the euro zone crisis lifted the dollar, traders said. Spot December corn fell to $5.80-1/2, the lowest spot corn price in nearly eight weeks, in a flurry of late-session selling.
The late sell-off came shortly after news that Standard & Poor's downgraded Belgium's credit rating to double-A from double-A-plus, citing concerns about funding and market pressures. For the week, corn was down 4.8 percent, its third straight weekly decline. CBOT December corn options expired on Friday.
USDA reported export sales of US corn in the latest week at 350,000 tonnes (old- and new- crop years combined), below trade estimates for 400,000 to 600,000 tonnes. The International Grains Council on Thursday cut its forecast for the global corn crop in 2011/12 by 2 million tonnes to 853 million, which would still be a record.