CANBERRA- Chicago corn futures on Monday slipped from Friday’s 18-month high as expectations that US farmers will respond to a price rally by planting more corn triggered profit taking.
Wheat futures also fell, with snow cover protecting most US Russian and Ukrainian crops from damage from cold weather. Soybeans edged lower.
The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) were down 0.5 percent at $5.02-1/2 a bushel after climbing to $5.14 on Friday, the highest since August 2023.
CBOT corn is up around 10 percent this year thanks to strong export demand for US corn, expectations of lower stockpiles a weakening US dollar and adverse crop conditions in Argentina and parts of Brazil.
Speculators have built up a large net long position and although historically they have been slow to unwind such positions, this brings with it the risk of profit taking that pushes prices lower.
However, traders think the US Department of Agriculture will follow the lead of agricultural lender CoBank and project large US corn plantings for the 2025 crop at its annual Agricultural Outlook Forum this week.
