December corn opened 17 cents lower on the day at 547 1/2 and established an early range of 546 to 553 1/2. The sharply lower open continued the sharp break that began in the overnight session. This weakness overnight was attributed to lower crude and a higher dollar and the crude oil market managed to add to the negative sentiment by taking out its lows for the week just prior to today's open in corn. Floor traders indicated that funds are again on the sell side and that fund and local selling again pushed the corn market into commission house sell stops to start the day. The USDA released its Export Sales Report this morning, one day late due to the Labor Day holiday. Net sales for corn came in at 200,300 metric tonnes for the marketing year that ended on August 31st and 389,300 tonnes for the current year that began on September 1st for a total of 589,600. This was in line with expectations. Cumulative corn sales for 2008/2009 stand at 18.0% of the USDA forecast versus a 5 year average of 18.0%. Sales need to average 791,000 tonnes each week to reach the USDA forecast. Japan was the week's biggest buyer. Basis levels at the Gulf were steady this morning with loadings for export resuming today after being interrupted by Hurricane Gustav.