* CBOT March corn settled down 2-3/4 cents at $6.82-1/4 per bushel, turning lower after a climb to $6.88-1/4, its highest since Jan. 31, in early moves.
* Wall Street equities eased after data showed U.S. consumer
prices accelerated in January, while hawkish remarks from
Federal Reserve officials cemented fears the central bank will
continue raising interest rates this year.
* Worries about crop prospects in drought-hit Argentina
underpinned the market. Recent rains brought some relief to
parts of Argentina's crop regions but the risks are far from
over, the Buenos Aires grains exchange said, adding that the
drought could trim $3.31 billion from the government's strained
tax intake.
* Mexico on Monday scrapped a deadline to ban genetically
modified
corn for animal feed and industrial use amid trade tensions with
the United States, but retained plans to prohibit use of the
grain for human consumption as well as the herbicide glyphosate.
* Traders continue to monitor war risks to Black Sea grain
supplies. News that military officials in Ukraine issued a
warning of a high risk of naval mines drifting around the port
of Odesa kept attention on potential disruption to grain trade
as fighting in Ukraine intensifies.
* Ukrainian farmers may face a shortage of fertilisers for
2023
spring sowing and a lack of them could sharply reduce the
harvest, a top agriculture official said.
(Reporting by Julie Ingwersen; Editing by David Gregorio)
