CBOT corn ends lower as fears over Black Sea tensions recede

CHICAGO, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade corn futures fell 1.4% on Wednesday on profit-taking and reduced fears of a military escalation in the Black Sea grain export region, analysts said.

• CBOT March corn CH26 settled down 6-1/2 cents at $4.43-1/2 per bushel.

• Analysts noted light corn sales by U.S. farmers after the CBOT March contract reached $4.52-1/4 on Tuesday, a 2-1/2-week high.

• Corn and wheat futures erased most of the previous day's advances, which brokers had attributed to Russian President Vladimir Putin's threat to cut off Ukraine's access to the Black Sea after drone attacks on Russian-linked vessels.

• By Wednesday, following a five-hour Kremlin meeting between Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump's top envoys, fears of a threat to grain exports appeared to have receded, even though no agreement was reached to end the war in Ukraine.

• The U.S. Energy Information Administration said weekly production of corn-based ethanol increased in the latest week to 1.126 million barrels per day while stockpiles rose to 22.511 million barrels. EIA/S

• Ahead of Thursday's weekly export sales report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, traders estimated net export sales of U.S. corn in the week ended October 30 at 800,000 to 2,500,000 metric tons. The government is still releasing back-dated export sales data following the 43-day government shutdown that ended last month.