(Bloomberg) – Corn futures extended gains in electronic trading on speculation that warmer weather forecast for U.S. growing areas will curb prospects for crop. Soybeans fell.
Higher temperatures may deplete soil moisture for crops in the next six to 10 days, Telvent DTN meteorologist Joel Burgio said in a report today. Some rain may fall early next week, he said. Parts of Iowa and Illinois, the biggest corn-growing states, have received little or no rain in the past week, National Weather Service data show.
“We’re still dry into next week,” said Larry Glenn, an analyst at Frontier Ag in Quinter Kansas. “I haven’t seen anything great in the forecast, just maybe some scattered showers. It looks like the fall crops have started rebounding.”
Corn futures for July delivery rose 0.2 percent to $5.8725 a bushel at 5:30 p.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade, extending this week’s gain to 6.5 percent. In May, prices tumbled 12 percent.
Soybean futures for November delivery, the contract with the most open interest, slipped 0.1 percent to $12.975 a bushel in Chicago.
Corn is the biggest U.S. crop, valued at $76.5 billion in 2011, followed by soybeans at $35.8 billion, government figures show.
To contact the reporter on this story: Tony C. Dreibus in Chicago at tdreibus@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at sstroth@bloomberg.net
