US corn futures fell on Tuesday for just the second time in two-and-a-half weeks, retreating from Monday's 13-month high on profit-taking and forecasts for rain in some parched areas of the US Midwest by the end of the week.
Soybeans retreated from a brief, short-covering bounce, slipping further from the all-time, spot-month high the prior session, as investors squared positions ahead of a monthly government crop report on Wednesday.
Declines were limited by continued concerns about the conditions of both corn and soyabean crops and reduced expectations for the harvests in the fall after weeks of hot, dry weather across most of the Midwest.
Trading volume was light following Monday's very active session as traders moved to the sidelines before the US Department of Agriculture updates its crop production, ending stocks and world supply/demand forecasts at 7:30 a.m. CDT (1230 GMT) on Wednesday.
"There's a little more moisture in some forecasts that seems to favor the southern areas where, really, much of the damage has already been done. But it was enough to squeeze some of the nervous longs out of their positions ahead of the report tomorrow," said Shawn McCambridge, analyst with Jefferies Bache. Weekly crop ratings from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) late Monday confirmed a sharp deterioration in the state of corn and soya crops, keeping ratings at their lowest level since 1988.
Chicago Board of Trade new-crop December corn fell 12-1/2 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $7.17-1/2 a bushel after hitting a contract high of $7.33 a bushel the day before. Spot ethanol futures fell 1.4 percent to $2.468 a gallon after hitting a seven-month peak of $2.524 on a continuous chart the previous day.
November soyabeans, the most-active contract, shed 9-1/4 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $15.38-1/2 a bushel. The thinly traded spot contract, which climbed to a record top of $16.79-1/2 a bushel in the last session, fell 16-1/4 cents, or 1 percent, to $16.48-3/4.
Commodity funds sold an estimated net 11,000 corn and 6,000 soyabean contracts on the day, trade sources said.
CBOT September wheat fell 7 cents to $8.21-1/4 a bushel. November milling wheat on the Paris futures market settled 0.25 euro lower at 248.50 euros a tonne after setting a new contract high at 250.25 euros in the previous session.
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