Corn futures fell to the lowest in more than three years, thanks to the dry weather that improved U.S. harvest prospects. Experts predict that global corn inventories will jump 24 percent to a 12-year high, according to an article by Jeff Wilson for Bloomberg.
The USDA has forecast that output will increase 28 percent this season from last year, when drought damaged fields across the Midwest. U.S. corn reserves on Aug. 31 will total 1.855 billion bushels, up from 1.837 billion forecast in August, the USDA said on Sept. 12.
Prices in Chicago have plunged 49 percent from last year’s record.
Corn futures for December delivery fell 2.1 percent to close at $4.3075 a bushel at 1:15 p.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade, the biggest drop since Sept. 30. Earlier, the price touched $4.3025, the lowest for a most-active contract since Aug. 26, 2010.
According to the Bloomberg article:
“Big production is coming at us, and we are going to build global inventories,” Bryce Stremming, a commodity risk consultant at Mid-Co Commodities Inc. in Bloomington, Illinois, said in a telephone interview. PD
—Summarized by PD staff from cited source
