A nearly $2-a-barrel drop in crude oil and a stronger US dollar, which increases costs for buyers holding other currencies, further anchored grain markets. "Demand is falling faster than supply in the corn and the wheat. The weekly export sales took the wind out of the sails and caused yesterday's technical rally in the beans and commodities in general to stall out today," said Mike Zuzolo, president of Global Commodity Analytics.
The US Department of Agriculture reported net export sales of corn last week at 47,400 tonnes for the current and next marketing years, well below trade forecasts for 350,000 to 550,000 tonnes and the lowest figure in eight weeks. Export sales of all classes of US wheat were near the low end of the range of trade expectations at 353,100 tonnes.
Chicago Board of Trade March corn fell 7-1/4 cents, or 1 percent, to $7.50-1/2 per bushel by 11:50 pm CST (1750 GMT) while March wheat shed 4-3/4 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $8.55-1/4 a bushel. CBOT January soyabeans rose 3 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $14.83-1/4 per bushel after earlier peaking at $14.91-1/2 a bushel, the highest since November 9.
Robust export demand kept a firm floor under nearby soyabean futures, but declining concerns about South American production weighed on back months as Brazil's government reaffirmed its forecast for a record-large crop. USDA said US soyabean export sales last week topped 1.1 million tonnes, the most in nine weeks. Traders said market talk suggested China, the world's largest consumer of the oilseed, had acquired up to six cargoes of US soyabeans this week from sellers in the Pacific Northwest, and that it would soon seek more volumes.