Heavy rainstorms the week of April 14 in the U.S. Midwest caused flooding as far south as Tennessee and have delayed the planting of corn crops, according to reports.
Storms on April 17–18 in the northern Midwest dropped 5.4 inches of rain on Chicago and as much as 6 inches on parts of eastern Iowa, said AccuWeather. Corn planting in the largest U.S. producing states was 2 percent complete as of April 14, behind 2012’s pace of 16 percent, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. “The cold, rainy weather is of course reducing the sum of corn acreage that shall be planted each day of delay, while almost certainly increasing the sum of acreage to be planted to soybeans,” said economist Dennis Gartman.
Corn futures for delivery in July fell 1.2 percent to $6.255 per bushel on April 22 on the Chicago Board of Trade, while soybeans for the same delivery month declined 0.7 percent to $13.7325 per bushel.
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