Corn dropped as rains in parts of the U.S. eased concerns about yield losses and lawmakers failed to reach a consensus on how to tackle debt in the world’s largest economy, prompting investors to exit riskier assets. December delivery corn lost as much as 0.7 percent to $6.8225 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, before trading at $6.835 at 11:09 a.m. Singapore time. Rains in the U.S. northern and southern plains and North China may favor development of corn and soybean crops, Telvent DTN Inc. said in a forecast yesterday. “The market will still react to weather” though the crop will be more resilient to hot weather in July than in August, Victor Thianpiriya, an agricultural commodity analyst at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., said by phone from Melbourne. Inadequate rains in Illinois will “keep the market a little bit on the edge.” Illinois is the second-largest corn and soybean grower in the U.S., according to government data. A House vote on Speaker John Boehner’s two-step plan to raise the U.S. debt ceiling was postponed, casting new doubt on whether lawmakers and President Barack Obama will come to an agreement before an Aug. 2 deadline. The stalemate may cost America its AAA rating, adding $100 billion a year to government costs while dragging down economic growth, according to Wall Street bond dealers. “It’s coming to a point where they’ve got to either resolve the debt ceiling issue or stop making payments,” Thianpiriya said. “That’s keeping the market sort of pretty jittery.” Wheat for September delivery retreated as much as 0.4 percent to $6.91 a bushel, before trading at $6.925 in Chicago. Field Survey Spring wheat yields in North Dakota’s southwest region may be higher than last year, based on preliminary field survey result released yesterday from the annual Wheat Quality Council tour of fields in the state. North Dakota is the biggest U.S. producer of the spring variety. Yields may average 37.2 bushels an acre, based on random samples collected from six fields on the first day of the tour. In 2010, the estimated yield in the southwest was 36.8 bushels, council data show. Soybeans for November delivery gained as much as 0.4 percent to $13.945 a bushel in Chicago, before trading unchanged at $13.8875. European Union imports of soybean-meal, used in feeds for livestock and poultry, will rise to the second-highest level ever as users shun high-priced grains and supplies of competitor rape-meal decline, Hamburg-based researcher Oil World said yesterday. Imports by the 27-nation bloc will rise 10 percent to 24.4 million metric tons in the marketing year that ends on Sept. 30, the researcher said. That’s higher than the 22.9 million ton purchase estimated by the USDA on July 12. To contact the reporter on this story: Luzi Ann Javier in Singapore at ljavier@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Richard Dobson at rdobson4@bloomberg.net

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