24 hour search:

Corn futures for July delivery jumped 4% to $7.7525 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, extending gains to 29% in the past three weeks, as intense heat and a dearth of rainfall punish parts of big corn-growing states like Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Ohio. Corn prices are just cents away from the nominal record $7.9975 a bushel reached in June 2011, when prices were rising because of worries about flood damage.

The hot, dry weather could cut the U.S. harvest this autumn by more than 1 billion bushels below the federal government's forecast of two months ago, leaving domestic supplies relatively tight, analysts say.

As of last week, about 60% of U.S. corn acreage was experiencing moderate to extreme drought, up from 49% a week earlier, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Moderate drought indicates dryness levels that occur once every five to 10 years, while extreme drought occurs every 20 to 50 years.

[link to online.wsj.com]