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August 13th, 2012
Corn futures fell the most in five weeks on speculation that demand is slowing after a crop-damaging U.S. drought sent prices to a record this month. Soybeans and wheat declined as rain aided parched fields from Kansas to Ohio.
Premiums for corn delivered to export terminals near New Orleans fell to the lowest since January 2011, U.S. Department of Agriculture data show. The government is reviewing mandates for ethanol use after corn futures jumped more than 60 percent since mid-June, drawing complaints from livestock producers that too much grain is being diverted to make fuel.
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February 8th, 2012
Corn futures rose in Chicago on speculation the U.S. Department of Agriculture may lower its estimate for global stockpiles. Soybeans and wheat gained.
The USDA may cut its estimate for corn inventories this year by 2.9 percent from a January forecast to 124.44 million metric tons (4.9 billion bushels) as drought curbs production in South America, according to the average estimate of 15 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. The latest supply outlook is due at 8:30 a.m. in Washington tomorrow.
“The trade seems quite intent upon seeing a report that has a relatively large cut in the corn carryout,” economist Dennis Gartman said in his daily Gartman Letter. “From what we’ve conjectured, it appears that the cut has to be at least 50 million to 60 million bushels from the department’s report of a month ago.”
Corn futures for March delivery climbed 0.7 percent to $6.47 a bushel by 1:15 p.m. London time on the Chicago Board of Trade. The grain rose for the first day this week.
Output in Argentina, the second-largest corn exporter after the U.S., will probably reach 22.3 million tons, below the 26 million tons predicted by the USDA last month, the average estimate of 22 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg showed. In Brazil, the fourth-biggest exporter, output will probably be 59.6 million tons, versus the USDA’s 61 million-ton forecast in January, it showed.
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January 27th, 2012
Corn futures advanced, heading for the biggest gain in five weeks, as concerns that a renewed heat wave in Argentina may damage crops boosted demand for U.S. grain. Soybeans gained.
The weather pattern known as La Nina has brought hot, dry conditions to Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, scorching recently planted crops. Temperatures will exceed 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in some of Argentina’s corn-growing areas through Feb. 2, the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange said yesterday. Rain will be scarce in most areas, said climatologist Eduardo Sierra.
“The market is certainly worried,” said Nick Higgins, an analyst at Rabobank International in London. “In the $6.40-$6.50 a bushel range the market is accounting for substantial reductions in the 11/12 corn crop for South America.”
Corn futures for March-delivery advanced 0.7 percent to $6.39 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade by 11:43 a.m. in London. The most-traded contract is set for a 4.5 percent gain this week, the biggest weekly advance since the week to Dec. 23. Futures rose 2 percent last week.
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January 24th, 2012
South Africa, the continent’s largest corn producer, may plant 11 percent more land with the grain this season after prices increased.
Plantings may expand to 2.63 million hectares (6.5 million acres) from 2.37 million hectares, Marda Scheepers, an official at the government’s Crop Estimates Committee, said by phone from Pretoria today. That compares with the 2.57 million-hectare median estimate of nine traders surveyed by Bloomberg Jan. 19.
“The reason for the advance is an increase in prices compared with the same period a year ago,” Scheepers said. “We’ve seen a decrease in the area planted with sorghum as farmers switched to corn.”
White-corn prices have risen 38 percent over the past six months on the South African Futures Exchange. The grain for March delivery closed at 2,686 rand ($337) a metric ton today.
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January 21st, 2012
Corn Futures – The use of corn to make ethanol in the U.S. is helping to lift the grain price worldwide, said Jose Graziano da Silva, the new director general of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization.
“FAO has been raising its voice against using food to produce bio energy,” Graziano da Silva told 64 agriculture ministers in Berlin yesterday. That’s “especially” the case for corn in the U.S. and oilseeds in Europe, he said.
Corn futures closed at $6.115 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade on Jan. 20, almost triple the $2.1175 a bushel for the grain a decade ago. Part of the U.S. corn production is used to make ethanol for blending into gasoline as a fuel while rapeseed is used in Europe to make biodiesel.
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January 12th, 2012
Corn futures and wheat prices plunged the most in three months, while soybeans slid, after an increase in stockpile forecasts by the U.S. government eased concern that shortages will inflate prices for food and biofuels.
Inventories of corn in the U.S., the world’s top grower and exporter, may total 846 million bushels before this year’s harvest, 12 percent more than analysts expected, a U.S. Department of Agriculture report showed today. The 2011 crop totaled 12.358 billion, above a December forecast, while global output will be a record for a fifth straight year. World wheat reserves will rise to the highest since 2000, the USDA said.
The prospect of ample supplies of grain for livestock feed boosted shares of Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN), the largest U.S. meat producer, and Smithfield Foods Inc., (SFD) the top pork processor. World food prices fell in December for the fifth time in six months and are down 11 percent from a record in February, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said today.
“High prices curbed demand, and now the market will decline until we find improved consumption,” Mark Schultz, the chief analyst for Northstar Commodity Investment Co. in Minneapolis, said in a telephone interview.
Corn futures for March delivery tumbled the 40-cent limit, or 6.1 percent, to settle at $6.115 a bushel at 1:15 p.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade. That’s the biggest drop since Sept. 30. Soybean futures for March delivery fell 1.7 percent to $11.825 a bushel on the CBOT, after touching $11.50, the lowest since Dec. 21.
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December 30th, 2011
Corn traders are bullish for a fifth consecutive week on speculation that dry weather in South America is damaging crops, boosting demand for U.S. supplies at a time when stockpiles are predicted to shrink to a 16-year low.
Nineteen of 25 traders surveyed by Bloomberg expect corn to advance next week. Lower-than-average humidity and dry soil will curb crop development in Argentina and southern Brazil through at least Jan. 7, according to T-Storm Weather LLC, a forecaster in Chicago. Argentina is the world’s biggest corn shipper after the U.S. and typically starts reaping its grain in March.
While prices doubled in the past two years as record demand eroded inventories, corn fell as much as 27 percent since the end of August as the U.S. forecast the biggest-ever global harvest. The grain rallied 10 percent in the past two weeks on mounting concern that South American weather will undermine that prediction and drive stockpiles lower. Argentina and Brazil are expected to produce 90 million metric tons, enough to supply the 27-nation European Union for 17 months, USDA data show.
“We have already caused irreversible damage to the corn crop,” said Dave Marshall, a farm marketing adviser at Toay Commodity Futures Group LLC in Nashville, Illinois. “The dry weather trend of the past five weeks probably already lowered production 5 to 7 million tons below the USDA forecasts.”
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December 27th, 2011
Corn futures rose, capping the longest rally in a year, and soybeans jumped the most in 11 weeks on speculation that adverse weather threatens to reduce output in South America, bolstering demand for U.S. supplies.
About 50 percent of the crops in Argentina will be dry in the next 10 days after weekend rain stayed north of the main growing regions, Commodity Weather Group LLC said in a report. As much as a third of Brazil’s crops face a lack of rain, the forecaster said.
“Current weather trends are raising the odds that the South American crops will be reduced,” Dave Marshall, a farm- marketing adviser at Toay Commodity Futures Group LLC in Nashville, Illinois, said in a report. “Odds favor continued gains into the end of the year, as long as the South American weather forecasts don’t change.”
Corn futures for March delivery rose 2.2 percent to close at $6.3325 a bushel at 1:15 p.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade, the seventh straight gain and the longest rally since Dec. 29, 2010. Earlier, the grain reached $6.3675, the highest for a most-active contract since Nov. 17.
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November 30th, 2011
Corn futures fell in Chicago, extending a monthly decline, as Morgan Stanley forecast pressure on prices next year from higher South American exports of the grain.
U.S. corn shipments, the world’s largest, may slump 21 percent in the 2011-12 season to 1.45 billion bushels, the least since 1985-86, according to Morgan Stanley. That’s smaller than a Nov. 9 forecast of 1.6 billion bushels by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“Corn prices will likely come under pressure in the second half of the year as rebounding production in South America, and ultimately the U.S., increases supply,” analysts led by Hussein Allidina wrote in the report e-mailed today, referring to 2012.
Corn futures for March-delivery dropped 1 percent to $5.995 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade by 12:58 p.m. Paris time. Prices are down 7.3 percent this month.
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November 22nd, 2011
Corn futures gained, erasing earlier losses, on speculation that declining prices will increase demand for raw materials used to make food and biofuels. Wheat and soybeans also rose.
Corn has dropped 3.6 percent this year, soybeans are down 18 percent and wheat has plunged 23 percent. China’s soybean imports may rise to 60 million metric tons this year, more than the 56.5 million forecast by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said Abah Ofon, an analyst at Standard Chartered Bank, in a report.
“Overall we still expect markets to trend higher in Q1-2012, although at a less aggressive pace than we saw at the start of the year, as they remain pinned down by uncertainty,” Ofon said. “We also believe investor demand will return, but this will depend very much on sentiment, which in turn hinges on developments in the euro area.”
Corn futures for delivery in March gained 0.2 percent to $6.065 a bushel by 10:45 a.m. London time on the Chicago Board of Trade. Futures have declined 6.2 percent this month, partly on concern that the European debt crisis won’t be solved, cutting demand for commodities.
Soybeans futures for delivery in January gained 0.3 percent to $11.52 a bushel. The most-active contract has declined 5.3 percent in November.
Wheat futures for March delivery rose 0.5 percent to $6.12 a bushel in Chicago. Milling wheat for January delivery traded on NYSE Liffe in Paris gained 0.4 percent to 180.75 euros ($244.61) a ton.
- Tony C. Dreibus in London at Bloomberg.