DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
 
 
   U.S. corn futures fell on speculative fund pressure linked to weakness in key
 outside markets and a stronger U.S. dollar against the world's major
 currencies, which led to losses in most commodities, analysts and traders said
 Thursday.
 
   May corn on the Chicago Board of Trade lost 11 1/2 cents to end at $5.76 1/4,
 July was down 12 cents at $5.89 1/2 and new-crop December fell 10 1/2 cents to
 settle at $6.02 a bushel.
 
   In addition to the widespread speculative selling, traders were less
 concerned about the rain and cold temperatures in parts of the Midwest than
 they have been in recent sessions, amid reports of planting progress in areas
 of the eastern corn belt, said John Kleist, analyst/broker at Allendale Inc. in
 McHenry, Ill.
 
   "Some of the fields are going great guns over here," he said.
 
   The bulk of the planting delays is being seen in the western and central belt
 as showers passed through those areas late Wednesday into Thursday, keeping
 fields too soggy for planting. Rains are expected to make their way into
 eastern belt areas sometime Friday.
 
   While there are concerns over the delayed plantings, there is still time for
 farmers to get the crop sown, traders and analysts said, if the wet weather
 pattern breaks.
 
   Temperatures are expected to rebound in the second half of next week, leading
 to gradual planting improvements, though some rain is still probable during
 that period, according to private forecaster T-storm Weather.
 
   Traders are also becoming nervous over widespread reports criticizing
 ethanol's role in higher food prices and the tightened supply situation in the
 market, Kleist said.
 
   While the push to produce ethanol has no doubt caused dynamic shifts in
 acreage and market psychology, ethanol backers point to the jump to record
 highs in crude oil and gasoline prices for driving up transportation costs,
 thus lifting prices on many food items. In addition, they say the growing
 market for dried distillers grains, a byproduct of ethanol production, creates
 an extra energy source for livestock feed.
 
   Technically, July pit-traded corn hit a $5.85 3/4 session low on Thursday's
 decline, finding support near the $5.84 40-day moving average. The $5.83 low
 from Monday also offers near-term support, an analyst said. Nearby resistance
 is met at Thursday's $6.03 session high, with additional layers resting just
 above at $6.04 and $6.06, then again at $6.15 a bushel.
 
   In other news, weekly export sales were in line with trade estimates and had
 little effect on prices, traders said. Sales totaled 775,300 tons for 2007-08
 and 212,300 tons for the 2008-09 crop year. The bulk of the sales went to
 Japan, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.
 
   Mexico's 2008 corn crop is expected to increase 6.4% to 25 million metric
 tons, up from 2007 production of 23.5 million tons, the agriculture ministry
 said.
 
   The head of the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization said Thursday that
 $1.7 billion should be set aside for farmers in developing countries to grow
 more crops in order to tackle a growing global food crisis. Jacques Diouf said
 those farmers need immediate access to more seed, fertilizer and animal feed
 for the 2008 growing season, the Associated Press reported.
 
   In other markets, CBOT oat futures dodged the general commodity sell-off with
 a round of late buying, a floor trader said. The market earlier in the session
 traded both sides amid fund buying and spillover pressure from losses in the
 neighboring grain markets, he added. July oats rose 2 cents to $3.87 per
 bushel.
 
   Ethanol futures slipped. May ethanol dropped 4.4 cents to $2.51 per gallon,
 and June ethanol fell 3.3 cents to $2.45.
 
 
   (Ian Berry in Chicago contributed to this report.)