Soybeans dropped for the first day in three on speculation that a rally to a two-year high and the dollar’s advance may slow demand. Wheat rose for a fourth day. Soybeans for January delivery slumped as much as 1.4 percent to $12.1375 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade and were at $12.17 at 2:30 p.m. Singapore time. The price earlier touched $12.405, the highest level for a most-active contract since Sept. 4, 2008. “Higher prices may curb buyers’ interest, while U.S. farmers will slow sales as they bet that prices will resume the uptrend,” said Hiroyuki Kikukawa, general manager of research at IDO Securities Co. in Tokyo. “The dollar’s strength will also put a lid on any rally in commodities.” The dollar rose to a one-week high against the euro amid speculation that more debt purchases by the Federal Reserve will help revive economic growth. The U.S. currency rose as high as $1.3816 per euro, the strongest since Oct. 20, before trading at $1.3835. Cash premiums for the oilseed at export terminals near New Orleans this month climbed relative to Chicago futures as farmers slowed sales, betting that prices will continue to climb. The spot-basis bid, or premium, for soybeans delivered in October rose yesterday to 52 cents to 58 cents a bushel above November futures, compared with 47 cents to 55 cents on Oct. 25, U.S. Department of Agriculture data show. The average spot price rose to $12.74 a bushel, the highest level since July 2009. Wheat Gains Corn for December delivery dropped 0.8 percent to $5.6625 a bushel, reversing an earlier 0.8 percent gain. Corn premiums rose to 57 cents to 62 cents above December futures, the USDA said. That compares with 57 cents to 58 cents on Oct. 25. Wheat for December delivery climbed for a fourth day, adding as much as 1.3 percent to $7.01 a bushel, the highest level since Oct. 18, and last traded at $6.92. The grain has surged about 44 percent since the end of June after drought destroyed Russian crops, prompting the country to ban exports. Growing areas in the central and southern U.S. Plains for the hard red-winter variety will get “minimal to non-existent” rainfall in the next 14 days, Chicago-based QT Weather said yesterday in a report. About 47 percent of the U.S. wheat crop was rated good to excellent in the week ended Oct. 24, down from 62 percent a year earlier, the USDA said Oct. 25. Crop conditions last week were rated at the lowest level for the period since 2001. “Drought is the culprit affecting the key bread-wheat states in the Great Plains and mid-South,” Gail Martell, president of MartellCropProjections.com in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, said yesterday in a report. Rice Decline Rough-rice futures declined for the first time in 12 days, losing as much as 0.9 percent to $14.92 per 100 pounds before trading at $15.03. Rice supply will tighten next year after flooding across Southeast Asia ravaged crops in Thailand and the Vietnam, the world’s biggest shippers and the Philippines, the biggest buyer. “Rice production will become an issue next year,” Prasert Gosalvitra, head of Thailand’s state-run Rice Department, said in a phone interview from Bangkok. “Supply will become tight, driving prices higher.” The U.S. Department of Agriculture lowered its estimate for global milled rice output to 452.5 million tons on Oct. 8, 171,000 tons short of forecast demand. The global production deficit, the first in four years, may be even wider because typhoons and flooding hit Southeast Asia days after the USDA released its estimate. To contact the reporter on this story: Jae Hur in Tokyo at jhur1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net

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