Corn dropped and soybeans retreated from the highest in two months as expectations that U.S. harvests will rebound from last year’s drought outweighed weekly data that showed worsening crop conditions. Corn dropped 0.5 percent to $4.83 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade at 10:17 a.m. in Singapore after advancing 0.3 percent to $4.8675, the highest since July 24. Prices surged 4.8 percent yesterday, the most since April 29. Soybeans for November delivery fell 0.7 percent to $12.9425 a bushel, erasing a 0.5 percent climb to $13.0975, the highest since June 19. About 61 percent of the U.S. corn crop was in good or excellent condition as of Aug. 18 from 64 percent a week earlier and 23 percent the previous year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a report yesterday. About 62 percent of soybeans received the top ratings from 64 percent a week earlier and 31 percent a year earlier, it said. U.S. corn output is set to climb to a record and soybean production will jump 8 percent, the agency predicts. “We will see upside volatility being driven by adverse weather, particularly for corn, but on the flip side we’ve got these pretty robust crop conditions,� said Graydon Chong, a grains and oilseed analyst at Rabobank International in Sydney. “They’re still pretty strong numbers.� Corn production will reach 13.76 billion bushels, and soybean output will rebound to 3.26 billion bushels, the USDA said Aug. 12. Wheat for December delivery rose as much as 0.4 percent to $6.56 a bushel, the highest since Aug. 13, before trading at $6.53. Spring wheat was rated 66 percent good-to-excellent, unchanged from a week earlier, according to the USDA. To contact the reporter on this story: Phoebe Sedgman in Melbourne at psedgman2@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jake Lloyd-Smith at jlloydsmith@bloomberg.net

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