Corn futures hit four-month low on big US crop, export worries

Disappointment over US corn export sales weighed on CBOT futures. The US Department of Agriculture has previously estimated that farmers this year produced the nation's second-largest corn crop on record, analysts said. The USDA reported that exporters sold 315,000 metric tons of US corn to Mexico and 136,000 metric tons to South Korea for delivery in 2026/27. On Monday, the agency confirmed sales of 1.7 million metric tons to Mexico, including 1.1 million tons for 2026/27 delivery.

However, demand is lagging last year's pace, said Rich Nelson, chief strategist at Allendale. "We still have more ground to make up for what is a pretty disappointing export pace right now," Nelson said. CBOT corn was down 6 cents at $4.42-1/4 a bushel and touched its lowest price since July 2 in afternoon trading. Soybeans slid 4 cents to $12.12-3/4 a bushel and hit their lowest level since August 17.

Traders were nervous about demand for US soybeans from nations other than China, the world's biggest importer, amid competition for global sales from Brazil, the top supplier, Nelson said. The USDA reported that exporters sold 134,000 metric tons of US soybeans to unknown buyers for 2026/27 delivery, after confirming sales of 136,000 metric tons to China on Monday. The agency has estimated that US farmers this year produced the biggest soybean crop ever and that harvesting was 88% complete as of Sunday.

For wheat, CBOT futures were down 7-1/2 cents at $5.99 a bushel. The Kremlin confirmed Russia will take part in three-way peace talks with Ukraine and the US in Abu Dhabi on November 10-11. Fighting has disrupted grain exports from the Black Sea region. "With pent-up supplies of Russian and Ukrainian grain, if —and that is a big if — we see an end to hostilities, then we could see further pressure on an already relatively bearish market," said Andrew Whitelaw of Australian agricultural consultancy Episode 3.

(Reporting by Tom Polansek in Chicago, Gus Trompiz in Paris and Bernadette Christina in Jakarta; Editing by Janane Venkatraman, Vijay Kishore and Paul Simao)