Wheat rose for a fourth day in Chicago, the longest streak since January, as persistent dry weather in the U.S. and Europe may curb production. Corn gained for a sixth session, the lengthiest run since December. Wheat in the U.S., the world’s biggest exporter, is in the worst condition in 15 years, government data show. Europe’s crop, making up a fifth of world production, is under threat from the driest growing conditions in at least 36 years. Soil moisture is “critical” in the U.K., France and Germany, the EU’s Monitoring Agricultural Resources unit said yesterday. “Increasing production uncertainty in the Northern Hemisphere may yet spark another summer price rally as we experienced last season,” Luke Chandler, global head of agricultural commodity research at Rabobank International, and analysts Keith Flury and Erin FitzPatrick said in a report. Wheat for July delivery climbed 11 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $8.28 a bushel by 11:10 a.m. London time on the Chicago Board of Trade. Prices are up 14 percent this week and yesterday jumped the most since March 17. The grain surged 76 percent in the past year. Forecasters predicted yesterday that the crop in France, the European Union’s largest wheat grower, will drop 12 percent on dry weather as output in second-ranking Germany slides 7.2 percent. “The fundamentals are really favorable,” said Connor Noonan, an analyst at Castlestone Management in London. Milling Wheat Milling wheat for November delivery traded on NYSE Liffe in Paris rose 6.75 euros, or 2.8 percent, to 248.75 euros ($355.09) a metric ton. As of May 15, U.S. winter wheat was in the worst condition since 1996, with 44 percent of fields rated poor or very poor by the government. The National Weather Service estimates rainfall in the past two months was less than half of normal in much of Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, the biggest U.S. producers of winter varieties. Corn for July delivery gained 6.25 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $7.56 a bushel, extending an 11 percent rally in the past five sessions. The grain more than doubled in the past year. About 63 percent of the U.S. corn crop, the world’s biggest, was planted as of May 15, according to the Department of Agriculture. That compares with 40 percent a week earlier and 87 percent a year ago. Sowing was delayed as excessive rain made many fields too soggy for farm machinery. The planting pace was 75 percent for that time of year from 2006 to 2010, according to the USDA. Soybean planting was 22 percent complete as of May 15, compared with 7 percent a week earlier, 37 percent a year earlier and the five-year average of 31 percent. About 36 percent of the spring-wheat crop was seeded, compared with 22 percent a week earlier and an average of 76 percent for the past five years. Soybeans for July delivery rose 6 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $13.855 a bushel in Chicago. The oilseed gained 48 percent in the past year. To contact the reporters on this story: Luzi Ann Javier in Singapore at ljavier@bloomberg.net; Tony C. Dreibus in London at tdreibus@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net

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