Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) agricultural futures settled significantly lower on Thursday amid disappointing export sales of U.S. corn and soybeans.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture released its weekly export sales report for the period of October 5-11, showing corn and soybean exports were far less than trade estimates, with corn sales hitting an early marketing year low.

U.S. exporters reported sales of 382,500 metric tons of corn, compared with trade expectations of between 800,000 and 1,250,000 metric tons.

Soybean sales only reached 293,600 metric tons, versus the trade expectations of between 600,000 and 1,000,000 metric tons.

Oliver Sloup, with Blueline Future, described the export sales as "absolutely pathetic" for both corn and soybeans.

During the same period, a total of 476,000 metric tons of U.S. wheat was exported, fulfilling the trade estimates of between 250,000-600,000 metric tons.

As a result, the most active November soybeans was down 22.5 cents, or 2.51 percent to close at 8.635 dollars per bushel. December corn was down 3.5 cents, or 0.94 percent to settle at 3.7075 dollars. December wheat were also down 4.5 cents, or 0.87 percent, to close at 5.13 dollars.

Improving weather conditions in the U.S. Midwest put additional pressure on the prices of corn and soybeans, which had suffered harvest delays due to long lasting rainfalls in the first half of October.