Corn, wheat fall to multi-month lows, await USDA reports

US corn futures fell to a three-month low on Thursday and wheat slid to a 2-1/2 month low, both sinking for a fourth straight day, pressured by technical selling and fund liquidation ahead of a government grain stocks report on Friday.

Soybeans eased, weighed down by spillover pressure from sinking grains, although worries about tight global supplies and signs of improving demand following the recent price plunge limited the decline.

Trading volume was light as investors squared positions ahead of Friday's US Agriculture Department quarterly report on US grain stocks, which could show season-end stocks of corn and beans at an eight-year low.

Traders who bet on further price gains liquidated long positions on chances Friday's data shows stocks are healthier than expected.

"We've seen some support levels breached (in corn and wheat) and we ran into some sell-stops. Trading volume hasn't been all that impressive so it doesn't take any really sizable orders to keep the downward momentum going," said Shawn McCambridge, analyst at Jefferies Bache.

Disappointing export sales data on Thursday, particularly for corn, kept pressure on grains as historically high prices have eroded demand.

The US Department of Agriculture reported net corn export sales last week of just 400 tonnes, the lowest weekly total since a net-negative week of sales nine weeks ago.

A consortium of hog and poultry producers this week confirmed that they were importing 750,000 tonnes of Brazilian corn over the next six months, blaming high US prices and scarce supplies after the worst drought in half a century.