Chicago wheat, corn down on soft U.S. export sales

Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) wheat, corn and soybeans all closed lower Thursday on less-than- expected U.S. weekly export sales of wheat and corn.

The most active corn contract for May delivery lost 3.75 cents, or 0.95 percent, to close at 3.9125 U.S. dollars per bushel. Wheat for May delivery dropped 19.75 cents, or 3.81 percent, to close at 4.9925 dollars per bushel. May soybeans shed 4.25 cents, or 0.43 percent, to close at 9.745 dollars per bushel.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said Thursday in its weekly export report that for the week ending March 19, U.S witnessed net sales of 102,300 metric tons (MTs) of wheat for delivery in the 2014/2015 marketing year, down 74 percent from the previous week and 75 percent from the prior 4-week average. Corn export sales were 435,000 MTs, down 13 percent from the previous week and 29 percent from the prior 4-week average. whereas soybeans sales were at 505,800 MTs, up 48 percent and 54 percent, respectively.

"The bean sales were above expectations, with corn and wheat below. Corn sales in particular continue to fall further behind last year," said AgResource company, a Chicago-based agricultural research institute. "U.S. wheat exports suffer, the EU issued another 789,000 MTs of export licenses. Year to date export licenses total 26 million MTs, up 8 percent on last year, which compares to the USDA's projected one percent annual decline. There still is no shortage of EU or Russian wheat indicated."

Better-than-expected export data can't prevent soybeans from falling for a third-day Thursday on technical sales. Soybeans futures came under pressure from huge South American supplies and position squaring ahead of the USDA report on planting next Tuesday.

Market was expecting the USDA's report next week to show that U. S. soybeans planting areas this spring may rise by more than 2 million acres from a year ago. Endite