Corn extended its biggest monthly loss since October 2008 and wheat tumbled to the lowest level in almost a year after the U.S. reported acreage and inventories that topped analyst’s estimates. Corn for December delivery slumped as much as 6.3 percent to $5.815 a bushel, the lowest for the most-active contract on the Chicago Board of Trade since Dec. 16, and traded at $5.90 at 1:02 p.m. Singapore time. The grain lost 17 percent in June, narrowing the gain in the past year to 54 percent. Increased grain supplies may ease global food-inflation concerns after prices measured by the United Nations climbed to a record in February. Tyson Foods Inc., the biggest U.S. meat processor, estimates the increase in corn and soybean costs is approaching $500 million from a year ago, James V. Lochner, chief operating officer, said May 9. More corn “could help ease sky-high grain prices earlier that had livestock producers lamenting about increasing costs of feed,” Lynette Tan, an analyst at Phillip Futures Pte., said in a report today. U.S. farmers planted 92.282 million acres of corn this year, 1.8 percent more than projected by analysts in a Bloomberg News survey, and the second-highest since 1944, the Department of Agriculture said yesterday. Stockpiles as of June 1 were 3.67 billion bushels, 12 percent higher than forecast. “We’ve started to see a production response,” Michael Creed, an agribusiness economist at National Australia Bank Ltd., said by phone from Melbourne today. “Prices will subside when the crops are off.” Larger Harvests Farmers boosted corn seeding even as wet weather delayed fieldwork from Ohio to North Dakota. On June 10, corn futures for July delivery, the most-active at the time, rose to a record $7.9975, spurring growers to plant through June, instead of switching to soybeans, which have a shorter season. Corn sowing typically is finished in May. “The market is now faced with an additional 300 million bushels of corn to factor into prices, ” Rabobank International analysts led by Luke Chandler wrote in an e-mailed report. Worldwide wheat and corn harvests will be bigger than expected because of an improving outlook in the U.S. and China, the International Grains Council said yesterday in a report. While the USDA reports are bearish for the grain market, the agency may lower its estimates on U.S. acreage and stockpiles in its next report, according to Creed and Rabobank analysts. New Survey The USDA said it plans to survey farmers in Montana, Minnesota and North and South Dakota on acreage planted for corn, soybeans and durum and spring wheat because a large percentage of the acres remained to be planted when the latest survey was conducted in the first half of June. A revision in acreage may be released on Aug. 11, it said. The rally in corn prices hasn’t ended, David Stroud, chief executive officer of New York-based hedge fund TS Capital Partners, said in an e-mail today. “Incomplete crop reports coming out of the U.S., unpredictable weather worldwide, consumption at historical highs and tight supplies will cause corn prices to move back up by year end,” Stroud said. Farmers planted 13.627 million acres of spring wheat, 2.6 percent above estimates by analysts, the USDA said. U.S. inventories as of June 1 totaled 861 million bushels, topping forecasts by 4.6 percent. Wheat Drops Wheat for September delivery tumbled as much as 3.6 percent in Chicago, extending yesterday’s 8.9 percent slump, with the most active contract reaching $5.92 a bushel, the lowest level since July last year. The contract recovered to trade at $6.12 a bushel by 12:13 p.m. in Singapore. The grain has climbed 22 percent in the past year after flooding and drought slashed harvests in some of the world’s largest producers and exporters of the grain. Soybeans for November delivery gained 1 percent to $13.0625 a bushel. The price climbed 44 percent in the past year. Planting dropped to 75.208 million acres, less than analysts expected and below the 76.609 million estimated in March, as farmers switched to corn, the USDA said. Stockpiles as of June 1 were 619 million bushels, 4.6 percent more than forecast and above year-earlier supplies. Rice for September delivery advanced as much as 1.9 percent to $15.13 per 100 pounds on the Chicago Board of Trade, extending yesterday’s 3.5 percent advance. The price has gained 53 percent in the past 12 months. Rice Planting U.S. rice planting totaled 2.676 million acres, down 26 percent from a year earlier, the government said yesterday. In the second quarter, wheat in Chicago dropped 20 percent, corn was down 10.5 percent and soybeans declined 8.2 percent. Rice gained 6 percent. The Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of 19 raw materials dropped almost 6 percent in the quarter, the most since the end of 2008. A faltering global economy has damped demand for commodities. A government report showed more Americans than forecast filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, indicating little progress in a jobs recovery. The U.S. Federal Reserve’s second round of quantitative easing, also known as QE2, ended yesterday. Corn is the largest U.S. crop, valued at $66.7 billion in 2010, followed by soybeans at $38.9 billion, government figures show. Wheat is the fourth-largest at $13 billion, behind hay. To contact the reporters on this story: Luzi Ann Javier in Singapore at ljavier@bloomberg.net; Whitney McFerron in Chicago at wmcferron1@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net; Patrick McKiernan at pmckiernan@bloomberg.net

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