Chicago Board of Trade corn futures weakened on Friday as improving weather in South America raised prospects for big crops that will compete with US corn in export markets, traders said. CBOT March corn was down 2-1/4 cents at $3.74-1/4 per bushel. The contract ended the week down 1.1 percent, its third straight weekly drop.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) released a flood of crop data on Friday, including some delayed by the recent government shutdown. Most of the forecasts and estimates were in line with trade expectations. USDA said corn stocks as of Dec. 1 fell to 11.952 billion bushels from 12.567 billion bushels a year earlier, below the average forecast for 12.092 billion.

USDA's US corn crop harvested last fall was cut to 14.420 billion bushels, based on a yield of 176.4 bushels per acre. That compares with the government's previous estimate of 14.626 billion bushels on a yield of 178.9 bushels per acre. Traders are monitoring trade negotiations between the United States and China.

Copyright Reuters, 2019