(BusinessWeek) – Corn traded near a three-year low in Chicago on speculation a U.S. government report today will show a bigger crop than previously estimated in the leading producer.
The U.S. harvest may reach a record 14.029 billion bushels, 1.3 percent more than the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s prediction in September and 30 percent larger than in 2012, a Bloomberg survey showed. The USDA will update its forecasts at noon today in Washington. Corn slumped 40 percent this year as crops recovered from drought in 2012.
“Corn prices will likely continue their gradual drift lower,” Chris Gadd, an analyst at Macquarie Group Ltd. in London, said in an e-mailed report. “We expect the USDA to increase corn and soybean yields, raising corn production to record levels.”
Corn for delivery in December rose 0.2 percent to $4.215 a bushel at 6:24 a.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade after touching $4.19 yesterday, the lowest price since August 2010. Futures decreased 1.3 percent this week, heading for a third straight loss. The grain is leading declines this year in the Standard & Poor’s GSCI gauge of 24 raw materials.
Soybeans for delivery in January fell 0.2 percent to $12.6425 a bushel, paring a weekly gain. The U.S. crop may be 3.215 billion bushels, 2.1 percent more than estimated in September and 6 percent larger than last year, the survey showed.
Crops Gathered
U.S. harvests are nearing completion, with 73 percent of corn and 86 percent of soybeans in the main growing areas collected as of Nov. 3, USDA data show. Today’s report will be the first since the U.S. government reopened from a partial shutdown, which canceled the release of data for October.
Wheat for delivery in December added 0.2 percent to $6.54 a bushel, still set to decline for a third week, the longest streak since February. In Paris, milling wheat for delivery in January dropped 0.1 percent to 204.50 euros ($274.46) a metric ton on NYSE Liffe.
Global wheat inventories may be 176.54 million tons by the end of the 2013-14 season, little changed from the USDA’s estimate in September, Bloomberg’s survey showed. The United Nations’ Food & Agriculture Organization yesterday raised its forecasts for world production of the grain to a record 708.5 million tons.
