Corn Gains as Persistent Rain Raises Risks for Record U.S. Crop

May 13th, 2013

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Category: Grains, Oilseeds

(Bloomberg) – Corn climbed on concern that persistent wet weather in parts of the Midwest, the largest growing region in the U.S., raises the risk of the nation missing a record production forecast.

Wet conditions, followed by cold weather over the weekend in the western part of the Midwest, and rainfall last week in the eastern part probably caused delays in field work and sowing, DTN said in a report May 10, after the U.S. Department of Agriculture released its outlook for the 2013-14 crops. The U.S. is the world’s biggest producer of corn.

“It is too early to become complacent about supplies because exceptional weather-related production risks persist,”Luke Mathews, a commodity strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), wrote in a report today.

Corn for July delivery gained 0.5 percent to $6.3925 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade by 6:14 a.m. The contract dropped 1.9 percent on May 10 after the U.S. government predicted that the country’s 2013 harvest will surge 31 percent to 359.2 million metric tons.

The U.S. crop may take world inventories to 154.6 million tons, the highest in more than a decade, according to the USDA.

Wheat for July delivery advanced 0.3 percent to $7.0625 a bushel in Chicago, while milling wheat for November delivery traded on NYSE Liffe in Paris rose 0.2 percent to 209.25 euros ($272) a ton.

Soybeans added 0.2 percent to $14.02 a bushel in Chicago. The U.S. will regain its ranking as the world’s largest soybean grower, with production rebounding to a record 92.3 million tons in 2013-14, after suffering last year from the worst drought since the 1930s.

The U.S. harvest will exceed Brazil’s 85 million tons and push the global harvests to an all-time high of 285.5 million tons, while boosting world inventories to the highest ever, the USDA forecast showed.

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