Corn, Wheat Drop on Speculation Slower Growth to Sap Demand

By William Bi and Rudy Ruitenberg

Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Corn, soybeans and wheat declined on speculation that a deteriorating world economy will sap demand for the crops used in food, animal feed and fuel.

“Concerns about the global recession have overshadowed the sector’s own fundamentals,” Chen Baomin, an analyst at Jilin Grain Group Co., by phone from Changchun, China. “In time we shall see the agricultural commodities return to rallying.”

Corn for March delivery fell 3.5 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $3.67 a bushel in electronic trading on the Chicago Board of Trade, as of 1:32 p.m. in London. Soybeans slipped 11.5 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $9.48 a bushel and wheat dropped 3 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $5.6075 a bushel.

Milling wheat for March delivery fell 1.50 euros, or 1 percent, to 147.25 euros a metric ton on the Euronext exchange in Paris. Japan, Asia’s largest wheat importer, is seeking to buy 128,000 tons of milling wheat from the U.S., Canada and Australia at a tender on Feb. 5. That’s the smallest amount in a month.

To contact the reporter on this story: William Bi in Beijing at wbi@bloomberg.net; Rudy Ruitenberg in Paris at rruitenberg@bloomberg.net.