Corn fell the most last week on speculation that higher supplies
in China, the world's largest consumer of the grain, will cut
demand for imports.
China will produce 145 million metric tons of corn this season,
up from 143 million estimated in October, the US Department of
Agriculture said in a report on Friday. That would push the
country's reserves to 28.1 million tons before the next harvest, up
from 25.7 million estimated a month ago. Still, the stocks would 14
percent off from the previous year, Bloomberg News said.
"The trade is unlikely to think that the Chinese are going to
import corn anytime soon," said Mike Zuzolo, president of Risk
Management Commodities Inc in Lafayette, Indiana. Speculation that
China would become a net importer of corn for the first time in 12
years helped push corn prices up 12 percent in the past two months,
he said.
Corn futures for December delivery fell 2.75 cents, or 0.7
percent, to US$3.8675 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, the
biggest one-day drop since November 1. Corn still rose 2.6 percent
last week, the fifth straight weekly gain, and reached a four-month
high of US$3.93 two days ago.
Still, the price has fallen 14 percent since reaching a 10-year
high of US$4.5025 in February, after US farmers boosted acreage 15
percent to the highest since 1944.
(Shanghai Daily November 12, 2007)
