Chicago corn, wheat and soybean futures all declined for the third straight trading session, as investor concern over approaching Hurricane Sandy led to a stronger dollar, and traders of agricultural commodities worried about low crop demand.

The most active corn contract for December delivery edged down 0.75 cents, or 0.1 percent, to close at 7.37 dollars per bushel. December wheat fell 5.75 cents, or 0.67 percent, to settle at 8.58 dollars per bushel. January soybeans sharply fell 34 cents, or 2. 17 percent, to close at 15.2975 dollars per bushel.

Agricultural commodities all continued their slide downwards in a session marked by low trading volume and adverse market forces.

Though the floor of the New York Stock Exchange was closed Monday due to the approach of Hurricane Sandy, some trading was available electronically and trading went on as usual in Chicago, the U.S. state of Illinois. The investors who did act preferred the safe haven asset of the dollar, and as the greenback rose it put pressure on the grains. Crude oil and gold also saw losses on the day.

Corn and wheat saw additional negativity due to low weekly export inspections that continue to be sharply below the weekly average needed to fulfill the year-long U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecast. Recent high prices for corn and wheat have scared off many potential buyers, and traders continue to fear that U.S. wheat and corn remain uncompetitive on the world market.

Weekly corn export inspections came in at only 15.5 million bushels, nearly ten million less than the 26 million bushels required to meet the USDA forecast. Weekly wheat exports were even worse at 9.7 million bushels, compared to the 25.5 million average outlined by the USDA.

Though soybeans posted the worst loss of the day, soybean exports were actually the strongest of the grains, with weekly export inspections topping 63.4 million bushels. That was more than triple the 18 million bushel average necessary to meet the USDA full-year soybean forecast, and traders continue to think soybeans have solid underlying demand.

Outside market negativity and competition from South America, however, led traders to engage in some long liquidation selling, and soybeans ultimately fell on the session.

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