Corn, soybeans and wheat rose in Chicago on speculation dry weather in the U.S., the world’s largest exporter of all three commodities, may damage crops. Conditions worsened last week for U.S. corn and soybeans, the Department of Agriculture said yesterday, as dry, cool weather across the Midwest increased plant stress and hastened crop maturity. Dryness this week in the central and southern Plains winter-wheat area will maintain the drought pattern, Telvent DTN Inc. said in a bulletin yesterday. “Uncertainty about U.S. corn production continues to feed the markets,” Paris-based farm adviser Agritel said in a daily note. “The crop rating declined again for corn.” December-delivery corn advanced 1 percent to $7.6325 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade by 12:37 p.m. Paris time. The grain climbed 64 percent in the past year, helped by adverse weather in July and August that hurt crops. About 52 percent of the corn crop in the top 18 producing states was in good or excellent condition as of Sept. 4, down from 54 percent a week earlier and 69 percent a year earlier, the USDA said. An estimated 56 percent of soybeans got the top rating, against 57 percent a week earlier and 64 percent a year earlier, it said. “The market will have been expecting this drop in condition, but it will reinforce the issue that this year’s corn crop is going to fall short of demand and that prices will remain supported as a result,” Profarmer, a unit of NZX Ltd., said in a report today. Crop Estimates Soybeans for November delivery gained 0.7 percent to $14.32 a bushel. The oilseed advanced 36 percent in the past year. The U.S. corn harvest may be less than the USDA’s August forecast, agricultural researcher Informa Economics Inc. said yesterday. Output may total 12.711 billion bushels this year, compared with the government’s estimate of 12.914 billion, it said. Informa also cut its soybean forecast 2.5 percent from last month to 3.061 billion bushels, still more than the USDA estimate of 3.056 billion. Agricultural researcher and broker Allendale Inc. said yesterday production of the crops will fall below government forecasts. The USDA is scheduled to update its estimates on Sept. 12. Demand for U.S. soybeans may intensify if the harvest comes in below estimates, potentially driving prices higher should South American countries miss out on the rain they need to fill the gap, researcher Oil World said in a report yesterday. “Given the growing likelihood that the U.S. soybean crop turns out even below the USDA estimate of Aug. 11 of 83.2 million metric tons (down 7.4 million tons from a year ago), demand for U.S. soybeans must indeed be rationed and most of this will probably be done in exports,” Oil World said. Wheat for December delivery gained 0.9 percent to $7.665 a bushel. The grain advanced 4.3 percent in the past year. Milling wheat for November delivery traded on NYSE Liffe in Paris advanced 0.7 percent to 207.25 euros ($291.06) a ton. To contact the reporter on this story: Phoebe Sedgman in Melbourne at psedgman2@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Richard Dobson at rdobson4@bloomberg.net

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