CBOT corn ends down on profit-taking after six-week top

CHICAGO, April 14 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade corn futures closed lower on Monday for the first time in seven sessions, retreating on profit-taking and technical selling after the benchmark May contract CK25 failed to match a six-week high set on Friday.

• CBOT May corn CK25 settled down 5-1/4 cents at $4.85 per bushel, sliding after a climb to $4.90-1/4, short of Friday's high of $4.90-3/4.

• July corn CN25 ended down 4-1/4 cents at $4.92-3/4.

• The nearby May and July contracts declined more than new-crop December CZ25 corn as traders exited long May/short December and long July/short December spread positions, a reversal of last week's trend.

• New-crop December corn CZ25 fell only 1-1/2 cents to settle at $4.62 a bushel.

• Reminders of brisk export demand underpinned the market.

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed private sales of 120,000 metric tons of U.S. corn for delivery to Japan in the 2024/25 marketing year that began September 1, 2024.

• The USDA reported export inspections of U.S. corn in the latest week at 1,829,000 metric tons, above a range of trade expectations for 1,000,000 to 1,600,000 tons. USDA/I

• Ahead of the USDA's weekly crop progress report due later on Monday, analysts surveyed by Reuters on average expected the government to report corn planting progress as 6% complete, up from 2% last week.

• U.S. markets will be closed on Friday in observation of the Good Friday holiday.