South African maize futures ended lower on Wednesday, tracking lower corn prices on the Chicago Board of Trade following the disappointing US government crop report.
The May 2012 white maize contract was down R32 to R2,340 per ton, July 2012 white maize lost R22 to R2,289 per ton, and September 2012 white maize was unchanged at R2,327 per ton, according to preliminary I-Net Bridge data.
The May 2012 yellow maize contract was down R21 to R2,212 per ton, while the July 2012 yellow maize contract lost R23 to R2,202 per ton and the September 2012 yellow maize contract dipped R14.20 to R2,222.80 per ton.
The May wheat contract slipped R16 to R2,751 per ton, July wheat shed R16 to R2,800 per ton, while the September 2012 wheat contract was down R10 to R2,808 per ton.
Meanwhile, Dow Jones Newswires reported that corn and wheat futures each fell to one-week lows on Tuesday, with investors disappointed that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) left its domestic corn stockpile projection for the end of the marketing year unchanged at 801 million bushels.
The USDA's decision not to cut corn supply estimates means there is no need to keep pushing prices to ration demand. USDA said available wheat supplies for livestock feeding will offset tight corn inventories.
“On top of the USDA report changing expectations on supply availability later in the year, corn was pressured by rains forecast for the Midwest next week,” said Rich Nelson, director of research at advisory firm Allendale Inc.
The rains will alleviate concerns about dry conditions for farmers seeding the 2012 corn crop at a record pace, Nelson added.
CBOT May corn ended down 14 1/4 cents at US$6.34 3/4. - I-Net Bridge