Price Rose for Corn Future as Wheather Erode Crop Production

Corn futures rose the most in six weeks as adverse weather from North Dakota to Louisiana to Europe threatened to erode crop production.

Corn futures for July delivery climbed 29.5 cents, or 4.1 percent, to settle at $7.4975 a bushel at 1:15 p.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade. Earlier, the price rose by the exchange limit of 30 cents. The grain has more than doubled in the past year on tightening global supplies and increasing demand from ethanol producers and livestock farmers.

Corn planting was 63 percent complete as of May 15, down from the 75 percent average in the past five years, as soggy fields hindered fieldwork, mostly east of the Mississippi River and in northern states, government data show. Spring-wheat, soybean and rice sowing also were behind the pace of recent years. The Ohio Valley and North Dakota will see more rain this week, AccuWeather Inc. said.

?The weather looks to be a little more threatening on planting progress,? said Mark Schultz, the chief analyst at Northstar Commodity Investment Co. in Minneapolis. ?Western Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota could start seeing clouding conditions today, and rain starting as early as tonight and into tomorrow.?

The U.S. is the world?s leading exporter of corn, soybeans and wheat and the third-largest rice shipper.