GRAINS-Corn futures turn lower after hitting 18-month high

Adds U.S. market activity

By Tom Polansek

CHICAGO, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade corn futures turned lower on Friday after storming to an 18-month high on strong U.S. export demand.

Prices cooled as traders took profits before the weekend and anticipated that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will project large U.S. plantings and yields for the 2025 crop at a conference next week.

Forecasts for widespread rain in Argentina's farm belt and parts of Brazil next week added pressure on futures, traders said.

Soybean futures also weakened, while wheat futures rose.

Traders expect the recent surge in corn prices will encourage farmers to plant more of the grain this spring, as the crop looks more profitable than soybeans. Agricultural lender CoBank projected on Thursday that plantings will jump about 4% from 2024 to 94.55 million acres.

The USDA is slated to issue crop estimates at its annual Agricultural Outlook Forum next week.

"Everyone knows it's going to be somewhat bearish," said Angie Setzer, partner at Consus Ag.

Most-active corn futures Cv1 were down 6-1/2 cents a $5.06-1/4 a bushel by 12:45 p.m. CST (1845 GMT) after rising earlier to $5.13-1/4, a price last seen in August 2023. Before the setback, the contract had gained 12% since the start of the year.

Export demand has supported gains. In the week ended on February 13, U.S. corn export sales for 2024-25 reached 1.45 million metric tons, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That was toward the high end of analysts' estimates for 900,000 to 1.6 million metric tons.

U.S. soybean export demand has been less impressive amid competition from top-supplier Brazil, which is expected to harvest a record crop, traders said.

Weekly U.S. soybean export sales for 2024-25 were 480,300 metric tons, compared to analysts' estimates for 100,000 to 500,000 tons.

Most-active soybean futures Sv1 fell 5-1/2 cents to $10.57-1/2 a bushel. Wheat futures Wv1 were up 4 cents at $6.04-1/4 a bushel.