Corn futures gained for a ninth straight day Monday, rising to a new high above $7.50 a bushel, as floods in Iowa and other Corn Belt states threatened next season's production.
Corn futures for July delivery gained more than 2% to a new high of $7.6175 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade in early morning trading. It eased slightly to trade up 12.25 cents, or 1.7%, in late morning action at $7.44 a bushel. Corn has been rising since June 3, when it closed at $6.08 a bushel, 25% lower than the current levels....MORE
Earlier today MarketBeat had some interesting comments:
After the Flood
The flood waters may be receding in the U.S. Midwest, but the price of corn is not.
Devastating rainfall in the corn-producing region of the country caused the price of corn to spike at the end of last week, passing $7 a bushel on the way to $8 a bushel, but even though the weather forecast looks relatively calm for the coming week, pressure from the dollar and crude-oil prices may continue to boost grains prices.
“It’s in orbit right now and going to go until the buying gets done,” says Jack Scoville, grains analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. “It’s safe to say we’re probably headed pretty sharply higher this morning.”
The grains market opens at 10:30 a.m. ET. December corn futures settled at $7.65 a bushel in trading Friday and were expected to open around $7.83 a bushel, as producers deal with a less-than-stellar crop due to the heavy rains in 2008, as well as increased ethanol-based demand. Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said corn production in the 2009 crop season is expected to be 390 million bushels, or 3%, lower than expected in May....MORE
