Corn Drops on Speculation U.S. Farmers Will Have Bumper Crop

CHICAGO-(Bloomberg)--Corn slumped after a U.S. Department of Agriculture report increased speculation that this year’s harvest may be larger than forecast. Wheat also fell.

About 69 percent of the U.S. corn crop was in good or excellent condition as of Aug. 30, compared with 61 percent a year earlier, the USDA said yesterday.

“No doubt there will be another bumper crop for corn in the U.S.,” Hiroyuki Kikukawa, general manager of research at IDO Securities Co., said today by phone.

Corn for December delivery fell 1.1 percent to $3.2625 a bushel in electronic trading on the Chicago Board of Trade at 2:25 p.m. Paris time. The most-active contract lost 5.7 percent in August, the third monthly drop.

The USDA has predicted a crop of 12.761 billion bushels, 5.5 percent more than last year and the second-largest ever.

About 75 percent of corn plants in the top 18 producing states were filling kernels with sugars and starch as of Aug. 30, up from 57 percent a week earlier, the USDA said. The average in the previous five years was 88 percent.

An estimated 32 percent of the crop was denting, when kernels begin to advance toward maturity, down from 42 percent a year ago and the five-year average of 60 percent, the USDA said.

Wheat Declines

Wheat for December delivery in Chicago dropped 0.6 percent to $4.9575 a bushel. The price yesterday touched $4.8075, the lowest level since Dec. 8. The contract dropped 5.6 percent last month, the third consecutive decline, partly because of slack demand for U.S. inventories.

Euronext milling wheat for November delivery gained 50 cents, or 0.4 percent, to 127.50 euros a metric ton in Paris.

Soybeans for November delivery fell 0.3 percent. The oilseed dropped 3.1 percent yesterday.

“The U.S. soybean crop, following planting delays, will be vulnerable if early frost hits,” Kikukawa said. “This may reduce crop yields.”

About 93 percent of soybean plants were setting pods and beginning to fill them with beans as of Aug. 30, compared with 85 percent a week earlier and the five-year average of 96 percent, the USDA said. Pod-setting is the most critical crop development period in determining final yields.

Drought in India, the world’s fifth-largest soybean producer, may curb output of the oilseed and boost demand for U.S. and South American supplies, Timothy Loh, marketing director at the American Soybean Association regional office in Singapore, said in a phone interview today.

“Right now, all indications point to a drop” in India’s soybean production, Loh said. “If the weather is bad, then it could be even worse than expected,” he said, referring to Indian output, and without providing a specific forecast.