The most active corn contract for March delivery was down 0.5 U.S. cent, or 0.13 percent, to close at 3.865 dollars per bushel. March wheat was down 3 cents, or 0.55 percent, to settle at 5.4525 dollars per bushel. January soybeans were down 4 cents, or 0.43 percent, to close at 9.245 dollars per bushel.
Profit taking since Wednesday has dragged down CBOT prices, following days of gains triggered by rising export expectations after China and the United States agreed last week on the text of a phase-one economic and trade agreement.
CBOT brokers estimated that funds on Thursday sold 2,000 contracts of corn, 1,900 contracts of wheat while being flat in soybeans.
Yet the latest U.S. crop export sales remain supportive. Official figures released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Thursday showed "marketing-year-high" corn and wheat sales during the period of Dec. 6-12.
Also on Thursday, the USDA confirmed new sales by private exporters of 126,000 metric tons of soybeans for delivery to China during the 2019/20 marketing year.
"We like the idea of seeing demand come back into the market at the turn of the year," said Oliver Sloup, market analyst with Blue Line Futures.
"If we can continue to see this become more of a trend, I wouldn't be surprised to see that encourage additional short covering into the new year," he added.
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