CBOT corn ends lower on soy weakness, benign US crop weather

CHICAGO, June 2 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade corn futures declined on Monday on spillover weakness from soybeans and as generally favorable crop weather bolstered early U.S. production prospects, traders said.

• CBOT July corn CN25 settled down 5-3/4 cents at $4.38-1/4 per bushel after touching $4.37-3/4, its lowest since mid-May.

• New-crop December corn CZ25 ended down 2-3/4 cents at $4.35-3/4 a bushel.

• CBOT soybean futures sagged as trade tensions with China and uncertainty about U.S. biofuels policy threatened demand.

• Ahead of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's weekly U.S. crop progress report due later on Monday, analysts surveyed by Reuters on average expected the government to rate 69% of the U.S. corn crop in good to excellent condition, up a percentage point from last week.

• Analysts on average estimated corn planting as 93% complete, up from 87% a week earlier.

• Reminders of brisk corn export demand lent support. The USDA reported export inspections of U.S. corn in the latest week at 1,576,006 metric tons, above a range of trade expectations for 1,000,000 to 1,535,000 tons. USDA/I

• However, ample South American supplies hung over the market. Brazilian consulting firm AgRural raised its estimate of the country's 2024/25 total corn harvest to 128.5 million metric tons, from its previous estimate of 124.8 million tons.