Corn prices fell for the fifth time in six sessions as U.S. exports declined and meat, dairy and egg producers withheld orders for more grain.

 

U.S. exporters sold 433,800 metric tons of corn in the week ended Nov. 13, down 15 percent from the prior four-week average, the Department of Agriculture said last week. Export shipments since Sept. 1 are down 38 percent from a year ago. U.S. prices for cash hogs dropped 36 percent and cash cattle declined 11 percent in the past three months, reducing feed demand.

 

“Domestic buyers are scared to death to increase inventories they bought when prices were much higher,” said Dave Marshall, a farm-marketing adviser for Toay Commodity Futures Group in Nashville, Illinois. “Exports are off to the slowest pace since before 1980.”

 

Corn futures for December delivery fell 1 cent, or 0.3 percent, to $3.535 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade. The most-active futures have dropped 56 percent from a record $7.9925 on June 27 as the global financial crisis reduced demand for food, animal feed and fuel.

 

Prices also declined after crude oil fell as much as 7.3 percent on speculation a U.S. Energy Department report tomorrow will show inventories rose for the ninth week as demand declined. Oil has fallen 65 percent since reaching a record $147.27 a barrel in July, reducing demand for ethanol made from the crop.

 

VeraSun Energy Corp., the second-largest U.S. ethanol producer, said yesterday it received an unsolicited offer for most of its assets. The Sioux Falls, South Dakota-based distiller didn’t identify the bidder or disclose how much the bidder was willing to pay.

 

“Even if VeraSun gets bought, there are other ethanol producers struggling to make money,” said Mark Schultz, a vice president for Northstar Commodity Investments LLC in Minneapolis. “Some plants are already reducing production,” which cuts demand for corn, Schultz said.

 

Corn is the biggest U.S. crop, valued at a record $52.1 billion in 2007, government figures show.