(Businessweek) – Corn fell for a second day after U.S. farmers accelerated planting on warmer weather, boosting optimism that production in the biggest grower will reach a record. Soybeans gained to the highest level in almost 10 weeks.
Corn for July delivery slumped as much as 1 percent to $6.43 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade and was at $6.4675 at 9:38 a.m. in Singapore. Corn for delivery in December, after the harvest, slumped as much as 1.6 percent to $5.12 a bushel.
About 71 percent of the crop was sown as of May 19, from 28 percent a week earlier, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said yesterday. Eastern regions of the Midwest saw drier weekend weather, while parts of the northern Great Plains, Iowa and Minnesota had more than 4 inches (10 centimeters) of rain, according to QT Weather. The USDA estimates that output will rise to an all-time high of 359.2 metric million tons as crops recover from the worst drought since the 1930s.
“Whilst planting still lags the five-year average of 79 percent, the gap has closed considerably,” Luke Mathews, a commodity strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, wrote in a report today. “The record pace of U.S. corn planting is likely to weigh on new-crop prices today.”
Wheat for July delivery dropped as much as 1 percent to $6.785 a bushel and traded at $6.82. About 67 percent of the spring-wheat crop was sown compared with 43 percent a week earlier, according to the USDA.
Soybeans for July delivery gained as much as 0.2 percent to $14.6775 a bushel, the highest for a most-active contract since March 13, and were at $14.6725.
