July Corn finished down 11 at 596 1/4, 11 1/2 off the high and 1 up from the low. December Corn closed down 10 1/2 at 620 1/2. This was 1 up from the low and 10 3/4 off the high.

The market traded lower throughout the day today with the July contract taking out the day's early lows going into the close. Traders described today's selling mainly as liquidation by commission houses based on reports of rapid planting progress in many areas of the corn belt. The forecast for the next 7 days is for dry weather across the western corn belt. This area was generally farther behind than the eastern belt and dry weather there may allow farmers to catch up to near the normal historical pace by the middle of next week. A government-run think tank in China today pegged their corn crop at 149 million tonnes for 2008 which is unchanged from their last projection. Basis levels for corn were steady to stronger across the Midwest today on very light farmer selling. The May corn contract expired at noon today.

July Rice finished down 0.75 at 21.49, 0.11 off the high and equal to the low.