Monday, 26 August 2013

Soybeans Rally to Highest Since June as Hot Weather Curbs Crops

By Phoebe Sedgman - Aug 26, 2013
Bloomberg
Soybeans surged to the highest level since June as hot, dry weather in the Midwest threatened to curb crop prospects in the U.S, the world’s biggest grower. Corn climbed to the highest price in a month and wheat advanced.

The oilseed gained as much as 4.6 percent to $13.8925 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, the highest since June 6, and traded at $13.8175 at 1:48 p.m. in Singapore. Prices rose 5.5 percent last week, the third straight increase.

Futures lost 2 percent this year as the U.S. Department of Agriculture predicted that output may gain 8 percent to 3.255 bushels after drought hurt last year’s harvest. Production may be 3.158 billion bushels after planting delays and unusually cool, dry weather stunted growth, according to the Professional Farmers of America. Hot, mostly dry weather for most of the Midwest in the next seven to 10 days will put added stress on some crops, DTN said Aug. 23.

“The market’s increasingly getting a bit nervous about the soybean crop,” said Paul Deane, an agricultural economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. The forecast from Pro Farmer, as the Cedar Falls, Iowa-based group is known, is “only adding to sentiment,” he said by phone today.

Corn for December surged as much as 4 percent to $4.89 a bushel, the highest since July 24, and was at $4.88. The corn harvest will be 13.46 billion bushels, less than the 13.763 billion estimated this month by the USDA, Pro Farmer said Aug. 23. The group made its projections after a four-day tour last week of 2,600 fields in seven Midwest states.

Wheat for delivery in December rose as much as 2.2 percent to $6.60 a bushel, the highest since Aug. 8, and traded at $6.5925.

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