Soybeans, Corn Decline as Warm Weather in U.S. Assists Harvest

By Luzi Ann Javier

Sept. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Soybeans and corn dropped on optimism warm weather will advance harvesting in the U.S., the world’s largest grower and exporter, and lessen the risk of frost damage.

Twenty-one of 31 traders and analysts surveyed from Tokyo to Chicago said soybeans will fall this week, while 21 of 30 respondents said corn would decline. Crops in the Midwest will benefit from near- to above-normal temperatures in the five to seven days from Sept. 18, according to DTN Meteorlogix LLC. The Midwest is the largest U.S. producing region.

“The weather has been pretty kind,” John Reeve, director for agricultural commodities at Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore, said in a Bloomberg Television interview today. “I don’t think we’re going to see a big spike in beans.”

Soybeans for November delivery fell as much as 1 percent to $9.315 a bushel in after-hours electronic trading on the Chicago Board of Trade. They traded at $9.3675 a bushel at 1:12 p.m. Singapore time. Corn for December delivery fell as much as 1.9 percent to $3.12 a bushel, before trading at $3.15 a bushel.

Parts of the Midwest, including Iowa and Illinois, the two largest producers, will have below normal precipitation from Sept. 26-30, the National Weather Service said yesterday.

Wheat for December delivery fell as much as 0.9 percent to $4.53 a bushel in Chicago, before trading at $4.5325 a bushel at 1:11 p.m. Singapore time. Wheat futures may decline to $4 a bushel in the next three to six months because of rising global supplies, Reeve said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Luzi Ann Javier in Singapore at ljavier@bloomberg.net