Corn and soybeans extended a slump to the lowest levels since 2010 on expectations that harvests in the U.S., the world’s biggest grower of the crops, will reach records. Wheat rebounded from a four-year low.
Corn for December delivery lost 0.5 percent to $3.30 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, the lowest for a most-active contract since June 2010. Soybean futures for November dropped as much as 1.5 per cent to $9.425 a bushel, the lowest since July 2010, and were at $9.43 by 2:25 p.m. in Singapore.
Corn tumbled 27 per cent and soybeans 28 per cent in the past year amid forecasts that output in the U.S. will climb to the highest ever. U.S. farmers may harvest 14.395 billion bushels of corn and 3.913 billion bushels of soybeans, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Sept. 11. Increasing supplies are helping cut global food prices, with a United Nations’ index slumping to an almost four-year low in August.
Futures fell as “the market continued to focus on reports of bumper crops coming out of early harvested areas with the prospect of record production looming,” AWB (Australia) Pty, a unit of Cargill Australia Ltd., wrote in a report today.
Wheat for December delivery climbed as much as 1.1 per cent to $4.795 a bushel before trading at $4.765. Prices fell to $4.7375 on Sept. 19. the lowest since June 2010. Egypt purchased 55,000 metric tons of U.S. wheat in a tender, the General Authority for Supply Commodities, the state grain buyer, said Sept. 20.
Bloomberg, edited by ESM
