Wheat Falls on Bets Demand to Drop, Egypt Concern; Corn Declines

Wheat declined the most in two months as the cost of the commodity may slow demand for U.S. supplies. Corn also fell.

Wheat has surged 70 percent in the past year as adverse weather damaged crops in Canada, Australia and Russia. U.S. export sales dropped 13 percent in the week ended Jan. 20 from a week earlier, Department of Agriculture data show. Speculators have reduced bets on rising prices in each of the past three weeks, U.S. government data show.

Exports “may start slowing down in the weeks ahead, because the market is getting to these levels,” said Dewey Strickler, the president of Ag Watch Market Advisers in Franklin, Kentucky.

Wheat futures for March delivery declined 20.5 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $8.2575 a bushel at 1:15 p.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade, the biggest decline since Nov. 16. The price gained 0.2 percent this week.

Prices also dropped on speculation that riots in Egypt, the world’s biggest buyer, will curb purchases.

Protests in Egypt intensified and President Hosni Mubarak imposed a nationwide curfew, causing concern that the North African country will buy less grain.

Corn futures for March delivery fell 6.75 cents, or 1 percent, to $6.445 a bushel in Chicago. The price declined 2 percent this week.

Soybeans for March delivery fell 1.5 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $13.98 a bushel. The most-active contract declined 1 percent this week.

Corn is the largest U.S. crop, valued at $48.6 billion in 2009, followed by soybeans at $31.8 billion, government data show. Wheat was the fourth-biggest at $10.6 billion, behind hay.

(Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-28/wheat-falls-on-bets-demand-to-drop-egypt-concern-corn-declines.html)