Money managers halved their bullish bets on US corn futures and options in the week ended Tuesday, CFTC data shows today. Managed funds, including hedge funds, had a net long position of 94,315 contracts in CBOT corn, down 51% on the week. The decline, fueled by both a drop in long positions and a rise in short positions, came amid a USDA report that shocked the market by estimating recent US corn stockpiles were much higher than analysts expected. The report drove a dramatic 13% decline in corn futures over two days, which traders said was largely a result of speculative funds scrambling to exit long positions. (owen.fletcher@dowjones.com)

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 05, 2013 15:53 ET (19:53 GMT)