CHICAGO, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) agricultural futures closed sharply lower on Monday amid massive sell-off triggered by growing coronavirus concerns.
The most active corn contract for May delivery fell 4.5 cents, or 1.18 percent, to settle at 3.7625 U.S. dollars per bushel. May wheat plunged 17.25 cents, or 3.13 percent, to 5.3475 dollars per bushel. May soybeans were down 16.5 cents, or 1.84 percent, to 8.825 dollars per bushel.
While positive signs started emerging in China's battle against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, the spread in South Korea, Iran and Italy has triggered concerns among investors, which in turn led to massive selling.
CBOT floor brokers estimated that funds sold 5,000-7,000 contracts of corn, wheat, soybeans respectively during the session.
Additional pressure came from the export data for the period of Feb. 7-13. The U.S. Department of Agriculture last Friday reported net wheat sales of 346,300 metric tons for 2019/20 marketing year, down 46 percent from the previous week and 40 percent from the prior four-week average.
Soybeans sales were pegged at 494,300 metric tons, down 23 percent from the previous week and 22 percent from the prior four-week average.
Only U.S. corn export sales, which totaled 1,249,200 metric tons for 2019/20 during the same seven days, were up 29 percent from the previous week and 12 percent from the prior four-week average. Enditem
