Corn, Soybeans Rise as New Data Suggest Scant Crop Improvement
April 04, 2011
Corn and soybean futures prices ended six days of losses Tuesday, settling higher on the Chicago Board of Trade after surprising new data indicated that the corn crop has improved little over the past week, despite steady rains in the Midwest. An Agriculture Department report released late Monday showed 61% of the nation's corn was in good or excellent shape, a number that has changed little in the past four weeks. Analysts had been expecting better results. Soybean plants actually suffered, with 13 percent of the crop in poor to very poor condition, slightly worse than the 11 percent from last week. ``People are concerned with the scraggly looking beans. Beans look stunted,'' said Stevie Bryan, a trader with E.D. & F. Man International Futures in Chicago. Crops were expected to improve greatly because rain had soaked ground that had been dry for three weeks, but the late planting, cool spring and dry weather had taken too much of a toll, said Richelle Woodley, an analyst with Refco Inc. in Chicago. Wheat futures prices sank after China canceled a purchase of 725,687 tons of hard red winter wheat, Mr. Bryan said. The cancellation was expected because China has complained the hard red winter wheat is infected with a fungus, but it still lent a bearish tone. Corn for September delivery rose 5.75 cents to $3.615 a bushel; September soybeans gained 12 cents to $7.64 a bushel; September wheat fell 6.75 cents to $4.5375 a bushel. In other commodities markets: ENERGY: Crude oil and petroleum-product futures settled slightly higher Tuesday in thin trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, helped by expectations of supportive data in the weekly inventory reports. September crude oil settled at $21.01 a barrel, up 22 cents, after jumping to $21.10 in the final minutes on a burst of speculative buying ahead of the American Petroleum Institute report, due out after the market close Tuesday. Expectations for a draw in U.S crude stocks as well as some technical buying helped buoy the market during the day, traders said. August unleaded gasoline rose 0.32 to settle at 63.08 cents a gallon; August heating oil gained 0.09 cent to end at 55.94 cents a gallon. PRECIOUS METALS: Prices of precious-metal futures settled mixed in light trading on the Comex division of the Nymex as the weak tone of the U.S. stock markets supported gold but silver was weakened by technical selling. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 44.39 Tuesday to 5,346.55. Gold was supported by some portfolio-hedge buying prompted by the poor performance of U.S. stocks, said Bettina Stivers, metals analyst with Prudential Securities in New York. Some traders, however, interpreted the stock market as a signal of falling U.S. industrial demand, she said, and sold silver, which has widespread industrial uses. On the Comex division of the Nymex, gold for August delivery finished unchanged at $385.50 an ounce, while September silver fell 4.5 cents to $4.970 an ounce.
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