(Bloomberg) – Corn futures declined, after the biggest one-day rally this month, on speculation that the U.S. Department of Agriculture may predict a record harvest in the U.S., the largest grower.
Corn for July delivery lost as much as 0.5 percent to $6.455 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, after rising 2.5 percent yesterday on concern rains in the Midwest will further delay planting that’s already off to the slowest start since 1984. Futures traded at $6.465 by 11:35 a.m. in Singapore, heading for a 2.2 percent loss this week.
This year’s U.S. harvest will probably surge 31 percent to 358.7 million metric tons from a year earlier, when the nation suffered the worst drought since the 1930s, according to the average of analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The USDA is due to release its outlook on the next crop in Washington today.
“Market participants want to sell for profit-taking before the USDA releases its report,” Makiko Tsugata, an analyst at Market Risk Advisory Co., wrote in an e-mail today.
Wheat for July delivery fell as much as 0.5 percent to $7.1975 a bushel, before trading at $7.2125. Soybeans for July delivery were little changed at $14.09 a bushel, poised for a weekly advance of 1.6 percent.
