Crops struggled in early deals on Thursday, as the dollar turned from tailwind to headwind, and corn struggled against at least three further bearish forces.

One was softer oil, a reflection too of the stronger dollar, whose appreciation makes prices of assets, such as commodities, denominated in it less appealing to buyers in other currencies.

Oil, which eased 0.6% to $80.42 a barrel as of 07:40 GMT, is a big influence for prices of crops, such as corn, which are used in making biofuels.

(The strengthening of the dollar, by the way, was attributed largely to profit taking by traders who made gains on euro and sterling rebounds in the last session.)

Data delay 

A second was some disappointment at rumours that the US Department of Agriculture will not, after all, next week release full revised estimates for America's 2009-10 crop, whose harvest has been delayed well into this year because of poor autumn weather.

"Word is because of snow they will not resurvey the Dakotas until April or May," Mike Mawdsley at broker Market 1 said.

Many traders have been hoping that the report would spark further buying in corn, estimating that it would reveal a cut of 30m-60m bushels to the department's US production estimate.

Elevator reports 

A third were reports that farmer selling is, after all, proving robust in the face of potential quality threats to damper corn (remember, this crop was harvested in particularly wet conditions) as warmer weather encourages fungi and the like.

Grower sales in the last session were a "signal that the producer is watching the market and is aware of where the price is at", Jon Michalscheck at Minneapolis-based broker Benson Quinn Commodities said.

"With road postings expected to go on in this part of the grain belt in the next two weeks some elevators have been reporting long lines as bins at home get opened up or emptied out before the spring thaw begins in earnest."

Chart talk 

Some traders mentioned technical factors too, with many crops trading within 20-day and 50-day moving averages in recent days, bouncing either side of the nine-day line.

With May wheat, for instance, ending the last session in Chicago within 1% of the 50-day average, likely to provide some resistance to further upward movement, technical dynamics favoured selling over buying.

Which was what happened, with the contract shedding 1.4% to $5.08 ½ a bushel, and the March lot losing 1.1% to $4.98 a bushel.

March corn eased 0.9% to $3.72 ¼ a bushel, and by the same to $3.83 ¼ a bushel for May.

Oilseed divergence 

Soybeans, which have moved somewhat differently to the grains in many recent sessions, this time moved in tandem, with a touch of farmer selling, by South American growers, cited here too.

The March contract dipped 1.0% to $9.45 a bushel, with soybeans for May delivery 0.7% cheaper at $9.56 ½ a bushel.

In Kuala Lumpur, palm oil did better, gaining 4 cents to 2,639 ringgit a tonne, although traders said that markets retained a lack of conviction ahead of a key conference and statistics release next week.

Malaysia's Palm Oil and Laurics Conference starts on Monday, while the Malaysian Palm Oil Board will on Wednesday revealed updated production, stocks and export estimates for Malaysian palm.