Chicago agricultural commodities lower in morning trading

CHICAGO, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) agricultural commodities traded lower Monday morning, on speculation that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will lower its outlook for exports in a report this week.

March corn were down 3.75 U.S. cent at 3.475 dollars per bushel as of 1600 GMT in the morning trading, March wheat was down 1.5 cents at 4.2925 dollars, and March soybeans was 8.75 cents lower at 9.62 dollars.

Analysts suspect the government will reduce its forecast for 2017-2018 sales in Friday's World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates Report. Export sales this year are down from a year ago amid high world supplies.

Soybean sales since the marketing year started have totaled 41.1 million tonnes, down 14 percent from the same time frame a year earlier, according to the USDA. Sales of corn are down 25 percent at 26.7 million tonnes.

Wheat sales since the start of the grain's marketing year on June 1 are at 19.6 million tonnes, down 7 percent year over year, government data show. Enditem