Corn Rises as Rain, Snow Delays Harvest in U.S.; Soybeans Gain

By Tony C. Dreibus

Nov. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Corn rose after rain and snow in some Midwest growing areas slowed a U.S. harvest that already was delayed by wet weather during planting, lowering yield prospects. Soybeans gained on increased demand for the oilseed.

About 71 percent of the corn crop was collected as of Nov. 9, less than the 92 percent harvested a year earlier, U.S. Department of Agriculture data show. The harvest probably will remain behind the year-ago pace after rain in Iowa, the largest U.S. producer, and snow and ice in South Dakota kept farmers out of fields.

``In Iowa, they are too wet, they can't get into the fields,'' said Mike Zuzolo, the chief analyst at Risk Management Commodities in Lafayette, Indiana. ``In South Dakota, they had snow and drifts on the ground and corn was laden with ice because the rain changed to snow. It sounds like the Dakotas are having too much snow for plants to go through the combine.''

Corn futures for December delivery rose 5.5 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $3.8575 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade. The price still is down 52 percent from a record $7.9925 on June 27.

Corn is the biggest U.S. crop, valued at a record $52.1 billion in 2007, with soybeans in second place at $26.8 billion, government figures show. The U.S. is the world's biggest producer and exporter of both crops.

Parts of Iowa and Illinois, the biggest growers of corn and soybeans in the U.S., received six times the normal rainfall in May and June, according to the National Weather Service, flooding fields and delaying seeding.

In October, about six times the normal precipitation fell from Nebraska, the third-biggest producer, to Texas, NWS data show.

Soybeans

Soybeans rose as demand for U.S. supplies increases. Importers have committed to buy 15.6 million tons since the marketing year began Sept. 1, up 8 percent from the prior year, USDA data show. Exporters have shipped 8.2 million tons, up 3 percent from the same period in 2007, government data show.

``I am impressed with soybean exports,'' said Darrell Holaday, president of Advanced Market Concepts in Manhattan, Kansas. ``Right now, it's the U.S. or nowhere.''

Soybean futures for January delivery rose 10.5 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $9.065 a bushel in Chicago. Most-active futures are down 45 percent since touching a record $16.3675 on July 3.

Soybean and corn prices also may have gained on speculation dry weather will damage crops in Argentina, the world's second- largest corn exporter and third-largest for soybeans.

``The trend toward below-normal rain and above-normal temperatures continues, increasing stress to wheat and early planted summer crops,'' Minneapolis-based private forecaster DTN Meteorlogix LLC said today in a report.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tony C. Dreibus in Chicago at Tdreibus@bloomberg.net.