Corn dropped for an eighth day to trade near a three-year low on speculation that the U.S. government will raise its production estimate.
Corn for December delivery lost 0.2 percent to $4.195 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade by 10:55 a.m. Singapore time. Futures fell to $4.19 yesterday, the lowest price since Aug. 25, 2010. An eighth day of declines would match the worst run since July 1. Futures decreased 1.8 percent this week, heading for a third weekly loss.
The grain has slumped 40 percent this year as output in the U.S., the world’s biggest grower, recovers from the country’s most-severe drought since the 1930s last year. The harvest may reach a record 14.029 billion bushels, or 1.3 percent more than the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s prediction in September and 30 percent larger than in 2012, according to a Bloomberg survey of 36 analysts. The USDA will update its forecasts today.
“The market is positioned for a bearish USDA, based on improved production potentials relative to those predicted in September,” Luke Mathews, a commodity strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said in a report today.
Wheat for December delivery was unchanged at $6.53 a bushel, set for a third week of declines. Soybeans for January delivery were little changed at $12.6525 a bushel, poised for a weekly gain.
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