A round of year-end profit-taking and worries about export demand for US commodities weighed on prices and prompted speculators to unwind some of their long positions. In Chicago Board of Trade corn, the report showed that the noncommercials, a category that includes hedge funds, sold 23,450 long contracts and took on 11,243 shorts, leaving them with a net long stake of 67,242 contracts.
That was the speculators' smallest net long in corn since the week ended June 26, when they were net long 50,539 contracts following a speedy planting season that boosted expectations for a bumper crop. But investors quickly boosted that long position to a 16-month high due to the drought that gripped key growing areas during the summer. Speculators have since cut the net long in corn by 76 percent from the summer peak hit in August as harvest topped the reduced expectations and demand for corn dried up on both the domestic and export front due to high prices.
Noncommercials also cut their net soyabean long by 20,091 contracts, their first cut to that bullish position in a month. The speculators were net long 73,076 contracts in soyabeans after selling 18,657 longs and adding 1,434 shorts to their position. Speculators remained bearish on CBOT wheat as little export demand has shown up even with prices falling to their lowest levels since July. The report showed that non-commercial traders sold 3,371 longs and added 1,966 shorts, leaving them with a net short position of 66,517 contracts, the biggest since mid-May.