Monday 29 October 2012

Corn, Soybeans Decline as Rains May Boost Brazil Crop Prospects

By Luzi Ann Javier - Oct 29, 2012
Bloomberg
Corn fell to the lowest level in two weeks and soybeans dropped as rains forecast for this week in Brazil may help improve growing conditions.

Corn for delivery in December slipped as much as 0.7 percent to $7.325 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, the cheapest for the most-active contract since Oct. 15. Futures were at $7.35 at 2:31 p.m. in Singapore. Soybeans for January lost 0.9 percent to $15.495 a bushel, falling for a third day.

Showers may develop late this week or next weekend, after hot, dry weather stressed developing soybeans and corn crops in Brazil, Telvent DTN Inc. said in a forecast on Oct. 26. Brazil is set to be the world’s largest soybean grower and exporter this year and the biggest corn shipper after the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“The key thing that the market is looking at right now is the crop and planting conditions on Brazil and Argentina,” Michael Creed, an agribusiness economist at National Australia Bank Ltd., said by phone from Melbourne today. “Rains forecast in Brazil may be pushing prices a bit lower.”

The U.S. securities industry canceled equity trading on all markets today as Hurricane Sandy barreled toward New York City. Trading of all CME Group Inc. futures and options including grains will remain open except for U.S. equity index futures and equity index options, the company said in a statement e-mailed today. The Chicago Board of Trade is owned by CME.

Wheat for December delivery was unchanged at $8.6375 a bushel in Chicago, after swinging between a gain of 0.3 percent and a loss of 0.4 percent.

Production in Russia, the third-largest wheat shipper in 2011-2012, fell 33 percent to 39.6 million metric tons as of Oct. 26, compared with the same date a year earlier, according to the country’s agriculture ministry. That’s bigger than the 38 million tons estimated by the USDA on Oct. 11 for the entire marketing year.

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