Corn futures at the Chicago Board of Trade closed lower on Monday and new contract lows were set amid harvest of a big US corn crop, traders said. "The yield reports are still good and even though no one knows for sure what to do with this bird flu, it certainly isn't bullish," a trader said.

Traders also said there were market jitters amid concern bird flu may spread and cut in to feed consumption. CBOT corn closed unchanged to 1 cent per bushel lower, with December down 3/4 at $1.96-1/4 per bushel after trading in a 1-cent range. The new low for December is $1.96 per bushel. Volume was on the heavy side, estimated by the exchange at 100,992 futures and 18,102 options.

Exports were quiet over the weekend. Traders and analysts continue to state that demand for corn remains good but the overwhelming supply of feed grains remains an anchor on the market.

USDA on Monday said 35.3 million bushels of corn were inspected for export last week compared with 40.5 million the previous week.

Meteorlogix weather said there were no significant weather concerns for the harvest of the US 2005 corn and soybean crops.

Copyright Reuters, 2005