Chicago Board of Trade corn futures fell Tuesday on fears of renewed trade tension with China and a strong start to the US growing season, traders said. CBOT July corn settled down 6 cents at $4.00 per bushel, with new-crop December down 6 cents at $4.19.
Futures turned lower after the United States said it still holds the threat of imposing tariffs on $50 billion of imports from China and will use it unless Beijing addresses the issue of American intellectual property theft.
The statement appeared to trigger long liquidation, analysts said, noting that commodity funds hold a net long position in corn futures.
Ahead of the USDA's weekly crop progress report, analysts on average expected the government to rate 72 percent of the crop in good to excellent condition, up from 65 percent a year ago.
After a hot weekend in the US Midwest, the remnants of subtropical storm Alberto were expected to bring welcome rains to the eastern Corn Belt this week.
The USDA through its daily reporting system said private exporters sold 231,248 tonnes of US corn to unknown destinations, including 28,048 tonnes for delivery in the 2017-18 marketing year and 203,200 tonnes for 2018-19.