Prices of maize in Davangere, a key spot market in Karnataka, fell because of a rise in arrivals of the coarse grain amid persistent weak demand, Shiv Kumar, a local trader, said.

Maize was sold at 1,650 rupees per 100 kg, down 100 rupees from Saturday, Kumar said. Arrivals were pegged at 3,000 bags (1 bag = 100 kg), up from 2,000 bags.

Arrivals have been rising over the past few days since market participants anticipate a further fall in prices with a likely larger maize crop in the rabi season, traders said. The fresh rabi crop is likely to hit markets April, traders said.

Corn futures ended the day session with 4 1/2 to 5 3/4 cent gains in the front months. In the March WASDE update, USDA left U.S. corn ending stocks UNCH at 1,892 mbu.

The USDA lowered the average farm price for 19/20 corn to $3.80/bu from $3.85. Brazilian corn production was UNCH at 101 MMT as was Argentina at 50 MMT. CONAB revised their estimate for Brazilian corn production. Second crop was 95k MT higher to 73.271 MMT, while 1st crop was lowered 498k MT to 26.058 MMT.

On net, Brazil forecasts corn at 100.486 MMT, down 402,000 MT from the previous estimate. World corn ending stocks were revised by USDA to 297.34 MMT, the trade average guess was very close at 297.3 MMT. World corn exports were 60k MT higher than the Feb estimate. Russian corn exports were reduced by 1 MMT, while Ukraine was bumped by the same 1 MMT, for MY corn exports of 4.7 MMT and 32 MMT respectively. The government of Argentina published their revised export taxes for agricultural commodities, the export tax on corn remained at 12%, but corn flour was reduced from 9% to 5%.