GRAINS-CBOT corn drops to nearly 12-week low on report of massive stocks, record harvest

By P.J. Huffstutter

CHICAGO, Jan 12 (Reuters) - U.S. corn futures plunged on Monday after the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that U.S. farmers and grain companies held the most corn in storage ever as of December 1, after growers harvested a record-breaking crop that was even bigger than previously expected.

During the trading session, the most-active corn futures contract on a continuous basis Cv1 fell to the lowest prices seen since October 22 on the news, analysts said.

Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures also dropped sharply, as USDA estimated that farmers also produced a larger-than-previously reported harvest and lowered its estimate for the nation's soybean exports in the current crop year - bearish news as President Donald Trump's trade war with China has chilled demand from the world's biggest importer.

"For soybeans, the anchor on the market is exports," said Don Roose, president of US Commodities. "As we hit first of February, our exports are just going to die," he said, citing cheaper prices for soybeans shipped from rival supplier Brazil.

The flurry of data came as USDA published its annual U.S. crop production, quarterly grain stocks, U.S. winter wheat seeding and monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) reports.

Chicago Board of Trade most-active corn Cv1 settled down 24-1/4 cents at $4.21-1/2 a bushel. Soybean futures Sv1 ended down 13-1/2 cents at $10.49 a bushel. Earlier in the session, it dipped to $10.43-1/2 a bushel - the lowest price since January 2.

Wheat futures closed down 6 cents at $5.11-1/4 a bushel, facing some spill-over pressure from corn futures and news that winter wheat planted acreage was larger than the trade expected, said Angie Setzer, a founder at Michigan-based Consus Ag.

Prior to the reports, Chicago grain and soybean futures had turned higher on news of more U.S. soybean sales to China and weakness in the U.S. dollar, making U.S. grains and oilseeds cheaper in export markets.

Before the USDA reports were released, wheat futures had seen some support by dryness concerns in the U.S. Plains, analysts said. But traders said such support quickly faded in the face of the updated winter wheat seeding data - and the fact that it is too early in the season for dry conditions to materially affect winter wheat yields, with crop conditions still looking relatively good across the region.

On Friday, Chinese state agency Sinograin purchased at least 10 cargoes of U.S. soybeans, moving closer to fulfilling a commitment to buy 12 million metric tons of the latest U.S. soybean harvest by the end of February. On Tuesday, Sinograin will auction 1.1 million tons of imported soybeans as the state stockpiler works to make room for arriving U.S. shipments.