Chicago agricultural commodities dropped across the board Friday on improved weather conditions in U.S. and South America.
The most active corn contract for December delivery fell 4.25 cents, or 1.21 percent, to close at 3.48 dollars per bushel. December wheat dropped 1 cent, or 0.19 percent, to close at 5.16 dollars per bushel. November soybean lost 14.75 cents, or 1.53 percent, to close at 9.5175 dollars per bushel.
Compared to the weakness of corn and soybeans, wheat performed a bit firmer Friday.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that for the week ending October 9, U.S. sold 16.7 million bushels of wheat, 75. 7 million bushels of corn and 34.4 million bushels of soybeans. Sale of U.S. corn was well above trade expectations. Mexico and Japan have been the U.S.'s biggest corn buyers.
For respective crop years to date, U.S. has sold 528.9 million bushels of wheat, down 175.9 million bushels year on year; 678 million bushels of corn, up 50 million bushels; and 1,124 million bushels of soybeans, up 114 million bushels. This is the third week in a row without a daily U.S. soybean sales announcement to China. Brazilian soybeans are very competitive to China from mid February forward.
Weather forecast for the Central US is dry and warm next week and into the opening days of November. As a result, the harvest in the U.S. will be in high gear.
As the U.S. dollar is expected to rise further and funds will keep liquidating, market analysts believe that corn and soybeans have not scored their seasonal lows, and wheat should be close to forging a top.