(Businessweek) – Corn reached the highest price in almost three weeks in Chicago and soybeans climbed on speculation that cold, wet weather will slow planting this week in the U.S., the biggest producer of both crops.
Storms today and early this week will bring more than 2 inches (5.1 centimeters) of rain to the northern Midwest including parts of Iowa and Wisconsin, and low temperatures by midweek may slow fieldwork, QT Weather said. Six percent of corn was planted as of April 20, slower than the average pace of 14 percent, U.S. Department of Agriculture data show. The agency is set to release its weekly crop-progress report today, including its first update on the season’s soybean planting pace.
“Weather is the major concern,” economist Dennis Gartman said in his daily Gartman Letter. “American farmers are amazing at what they can do in a short period of time, but the crop is late and growing later.”
Corn for delivery in July advanced 0.5 percent to $5.1525 a bushel at 6:47 a.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade after touching $5.1775, the highest since April 9. The grain is up 2.6 percent in April, set for a fourth monthly increase. Soybeans for the same delivery month rose 0.8 percent to $15.0625 a bushel after gaining 2 percent in the prior two sessions.
Southeast Thunderstorms
Tornadoes last night killed at least 16 people in Arkansas and one in Oklahoma, the Associated Press reported today. Severe thunderstorms are forecast for later today and tonight for the southeastern U.S., according to the National Weather Service.
Wheat for delivery in July climbed 0.3 percent to $7.1025 a bushel, set for a fifth advance, the longest rally since Feb. 5. In Paris, milling wheat for delivery in November dropped 0.5 percent to 206 euros ($285.64) a metric ton on NYSE Liffe.
The grain increased 17 percent this year in Chicago amid concerns that Russia’s intervention in Ukraine would disrupt exports from the Black Sea region. The U.S. and European Union plan to impose new sanctions on Russian companies and individuals close to President Vladimir Putin over the escalating crisis, officials said. Russia and Ukraine will account for 17 percent of global wheat exports in the 2013-14 season, USDA data show.
