(Bloomberg) – Corn extended a drop to the lowest level in more than 12 weeks after farmers in the U.S., the top exporter, accelerated planting in the last week.
Eighty-eight percent of corn in the main U.S. growing area was planted as of May 25, up from 73 percent a week earlier and matching the previous five-year average, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said yesterday. Domestic production is set to climb to a record 353.97 million metric tons in 2014-2015, the agency estimates. Rains in the Midwest this weekend and next week and warm temperatures will support early crop development, Commodity Weather Group said in a report today.
“Last week’s weather proved generally favorable for U.S. crops,” Morgan Stanley analysts including Bennett Meier wrote in an e-mailed report today. “Warm, dry weather across most of the northern Corn Belt allowed for an acceleration in plantings.”
Corn for July delivery fell 0.7 percent to $4.665 a bushel at 6:46 a.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade, the lowest for a most-active contract since March 4. Prices have dropped about 10 percent so far in May, heading for the first monthly decline this year.
Soybeans for delivery in July rose 0.5 percent to $14.9675 a bushel in Chicago, after dropping 1.8 percent yesterday. U.S. soybean planting was 59 percent complete as of May 25, ahead of the five-year average pace of 56 percent, the USDA said.
Soybeans are “still being helped by the currently tight supply situation in the U.S., where stocks have declined sharply as a result of high exports,” Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt, said in a report. China’s oilseed imports since Oct. 1 were a record 42.9 million tons, researcher Oil World said yesterday. The USDA estimates U.S. soybean inventories at the end of 2013-14 will be at a 10-year low.
Wheat for July delivery declined 0.6 percent to $6.3725 a bushel in Chicago, after touching $6.3525, the lowest for a most-active contract since March 4. The U.S. winter wheat crop was rated 30 percent in good or excellent condition the week ended May 25, up from 29 percent a week earlier, the USDA said.
In Paris, milling wheat for November delivery dropped 0.6 percent to 191.75 euros ($261.01) a ton on Euronext.
