Chicago corn, wheat fall on weather concerns

Chicago agricultural commodity futures were traded mixed Monday, with corn and wheat prices down while the soybeans price unchanged. The most active corn contract for December delivery fell 9.75 cent, or 1.75 percent, to close at 5.465 dollars per bushel. September wheat fell 17.25 cents, or 2.45 percent, to settle at 6. 8775 dollars per bushel. November soybeans closed unchanged at 12. 735 dollars per bushel. According to Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the corn market traded lower on the day on a more favorable extended weather forecast and souring outside markets. Cash bids were steady to slightly lower in the interior markets with some ethanol plants showing modest weakness. Also for corn, as for the week ending June 20th, export inspections failed to promote any buying support in the market after coming in at a sluggish 5.84 million bushels, down from 14. 14 million bushels a week ago. This was the slowest shipment pace in the last 20 weeks. The cumulative shipment pace is at 81 percent of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecast as compared with the 5 year average of 78 percent. Wheat futures traded sharply lower on the day on harvest pressure and weaker European wheat markets. The weather forecasts suggest good harvest progress will be made this week. Yields in the eastern US continue to come in better than expected with many beginning to hike up their Chicago production estimates from the USDA forecast of 509 million bushels. For soybeans, export inspections for the week ending June 20th were estimated at 7.83 million bushels, up from 2.8 million a week ago and hit a fresh 8-week high. Shipments needed each week to reach the USDA export estimate are at 4.6 million bushels, down from 4.9 million a week ago.