(Businessweek) – Corn fell after rain in parts of the U.S. boosted optimism the world’s biggest grower will harvest a record crop. Wheat rose.
Rain and lower temperatures were forecast to improve soil moisture and ease crop stress in west-central and southwestern parts of the Midwest this week, MDA Weather Services said July 19. The region is the country’s main corn and soybean grower.
“Erratic rainfall fell across the U.S. Midwest over the weekend and frequent rainfall is forecast over the coming 10 days,” Luke Mathews, a commodity strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), wrote in a report, citing World Weather Inc.“The environment should remain supportive for pollination and yield prospects, which in turn may result in further downward price pressure.”
Corn for December delivery dropped 0.5 percent to $4.9825 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade by 5:10 a.m. The grain has tumbled 29 percent this year as the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated that the domestic harvest will climb to a record.
U.S. corn production may rise to 13.95 billion bushels, 29 percent more than the previous season when crops were hurt by drought. The rebound will help boost global stockpiles to 150.97 million metric tons by the end of the 2013-14 marketing year, 22 percent larger than the previous season, according to the USDA.
Corn traders are the most bearish since 2009, with 15 of 23 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expecting prices to fall this week. Analysts were bearish for the seventh straight week.
Soybeans for November delivery rose 0.2 percent to $12.76 a bushel. Wheat for September delivery added 0.3 percent to $6.665 a bushel in Chicago, while milling wheat for December delivery traded on NYSE Liffe in Paris advanced 0.3 percent to 194.75 euros ($256.76) a metric ton.
