March corn was 5 cents lower overnight. Crude oil made a minor new low and the dollar was higher overnight.

Traders said that the new low in crude oil overnight and the fact that the dollar remains near its recent highs were a negative influence to pressure corn. Traders are also said to be concerned about the further evidence of economic slowing that came with Citigroup's announcement yesterday that it was laying off more than 50,000 employees. Corn demand appears to be taking a bigger hit than demand for soybeans or meal due to economic slowing. Weather is expected to remain dry through the weekend in most harvest areas. The weekly crop progress report showed the crop harvest at 78% complete compared to 71% last week and 97% last year. Iowa is just 70% harvested as compared with 96% on average and Nebraska, and South Dakota harvest progress is also very slow. Harvest was slower than traders expected. Farmers appear to be letting corn dry in the fields as long as possible in order to save on drying and storage costs. The 10 year harvested average for this time of year is 93%. This week's export inspections were 25.05 million bushels, up slightly from last week. Inspections to date stand at 17.2% of the projected total compared to a 5-year average of 20.8% and they need to average 37.7 million to reach the 2008/09 export projection. The EPA set the amount of ethanol that must be blended into gasoline next year at 10.21% as compared with the rate of 7.76% for 2007. India corn exports for the 2008/09 season are expected to come in near 200,000 tonnes as compared with 3 million tonnes last year.

Conditions have generally improved in Brazil with scattered recent rains gradually extending the areas with adequate soil moisture in the north and dry conditions allowing more rapid planting progress in Parana. Weather remained dry over the past 24 hours in Argentina and forecasts are for more of the same for the remainder of the week. In the US, weather is still expected to be dry in the Plains and most of the Midwest through the weekend with the exception of some rain and snow in Kansas on Sunday. Also, some snow may hit the extreme eastern and northern Midwest by this weekend. South Africa exported only 17,920 tonnes of corn in the week ending November 14th. This was down by nearly half compared to the previous week.