Corn headed for a fourth weekly gain, the best run since November, as drought in the U.S. deepened yield losses in a crop already in its the worst condition since 1988. Wheat and soybeans advanced. December-delivery corn rose as much as 1 percent to $7.3975 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, near the highest price since September, and was at $7.3925 at 2:05 p.m. in Singapore. That took this week’s advance to 6.7 percent. The last time the most-active contract advanced for four straight weeks was in the period to Nov. 4. Prices have rallied 16 percent this month. The areas suffering from moderate to extreme drought in the Midwest expanded to about 63 percent as of July 10, from 53 percent a week earlier, the National Drought Mitigation Center said yesterday. The U.S. government cut its outlook for the domestic corn crop, the world’s largest, by 12 percent on July 11, just a month after predicting a record harvest. “The drought condition is not expected to change,� Lynette Tan, an analyst at Phillip Futures Pte, said in a report e-mailed today. “Traders realized rains forecast in parts of the Midwest were too little to be of significant relief to the irreversible damage caused to the crop.� The U.S. Department of Agriculture reduced the outlook for the corn harvest to 12.97 billion bushels (329.45 million metric tons) this year, from a June prediction of 14.79 billion bushels. The forecast for global output was cut to 905.2 million tons, from 949.9 million tons last month, the USDA said. Futures rallied to $7.48 a bushel on July 11, the highest since Sept. 13. China, the world’s second-largest corn user after the U.S. may import at least 8 million tons in 2012-2013 from about 5 million tons in 2011-2012, Jean Yves Chow, senior industry analyst at Rabobank International, said in an interview. Japan may import 16 million tons, up from 15.5 million tons, he said. Soybeans for November delivery gained 0.4 percent to $15.3575 a bushel, set for a fourth weekly gain. Wheat for September delivery rose 0.7 percent to $8.5225 a bushel, also poised for a fourth weekly increase. To contact the reporter on this story: Luzi Ann Javier in Singapore at ljavier@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net

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