Corn futures fell from a four-week high on speculation that demand for the feed grain will slow as cheaper wheat prices encourage livestock producers to switch. Russia, which lifted a ban on wheat exports July 1, may harvest 90 million metric tons of grain this year, First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said, up from 85 million forecast a month ago. Ukraine’s wheat crop may be 19.3 million tons, researcher APK-Inform said. Cash corn in Chicago is 25 cents a bushel more expensive than wheat, compared with an average discount of more than $1 the prior two years, U.S. government data show. “Rising wheat production in Russia and Ukraine will cut world feed demand for corn,” Gregg Hunt, a broker at Archer Financial Services Inc. in Chicago, said by telephone. “Corn is no longer the cheapest feed ingredient.” Corn futures for December delivery fell 1.25 cents, or 0.2 percent, to settle at $6.785 a bushel at 1:15 p.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade. Yesterday, the price rose to $6.88, the highest for the most-active contract since June 15. Corn is the biggest U.S. crop, valued at $66.7 billion in 2010, government figures show. To contact the reporter on this story: Jeff Wilson in Chicago at jwilson29@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at sstroth@bloomberg.net.

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