CHICAGO- US corn futures dropped while soybeans and wheat edged higher in muted trading as investors waited for the US government’s monthly update to harvest projections.
Corn futures remained under pressure from profit-taking after prices jumped to a seven-week high on Tuesday.
The market shrugged off long-awaited news that the Trump administration would boost US biofuels consumption starting next year. The new rules, which still must be finalized, “ensure that more than 15 billion gallons of conventional ethanol be blended into the nation’s fuel supply beginning in 2020,” according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
“In general, it is nothing that is a quick fix of any sort,” said Mark Schultz, chief analyst at Northstar Commodity Investment Co. “The corn market needs demand quickly, not somewhere down the road. We just do not have any demand to speak of.”
CBOT December corn futures ended down 4 cents at $3.84-3/4 a bushel.
“Corn was under pressure off buy the rumor/sell the fact trading on the EPA ethanol announcement today,” Charlie Sernatinger, global head of grain futures at ED&F Man Capital, said in a note to clients.
CBOT November soybean futures SX9 were up 4-1/2 cents at $9.16-1/4 a bushel but remained below the 10-week top hit on Tuesday. — Reuters