(Bloomberg) – Corn reached a three-year low in Chicago as harvesting of the grain accelerated in the U.S., the world’s biggest producer, and crop conditions improved.
Farmers gathered 59 percent of crops in the main growing areas as of Oct. 27, compared with 39 percent a week earlier, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said yesterday. Sixty-two percent of crops were in good or excellent condition, up from 60 percent a week earlier that received the top ratings. The U.S. may produce a record 13.8 billion bushels this season, the USDA said in September. Its next forecast is due Nov. 8.
“It is above all the rapidly progressing harvest in the U.S. and the improving condition of plants still in the fields that are weighing on prices,” Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt, said in a report e-mailed today. U.S. export figures for corn also have been “disappointing,” he said.
Corn for delivery in December fell 0.3 percent to $4.295 a bushel at 6:19 a.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade, set for a fourth straight drop. Prices touched $4.2925, the lowest for a most-active contract since August 2010, and tumbled 38 percent this year on expectations that U.S. production would rebound from last year’s drought.
About 26.5 million bushels of U.S. corn were inspected for export in the week ended Oct. 24, down 18 percent from the previous week, the USDA said yesterday. Soybean inspections jumped 40 percent to 83.6 million bushels, the highest for any week since November 2009, USDA data show.
Soybeans for delivery in January were little changed at $12.6825 a bushel. The most-active contract fell 10 percent this year. The U.S. soybean harvest is 77 percent complete, matching the average pace of the previous five years, the USDA said.
Wheat for delivery in December was little changed at $6.8125 a bushel. In Paris, milling wheat for delivery in January lost 0.1 percent to 201 euros ($277) a metric ton on NYSE Liffe.
