Corn for December delivery declined as much as 1.4% to US$3.555 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade and was at US$3.5825 at 10:02 a.m. Singapore time (Sunday June 27).

 

The Midwest will have drier, warmer weather this week, bringing more relief to crops after excessive rain earlier this month, Accuweather.com said in a forecast on Friday (June 25). The Midwest is the largest US corn and soy growing region.

 

''The weather at the moment has been fantastic,'' Peter McGuire, managing director of CWA Global Markets Pty. said. ''The Midwest weather forecast will support the development of US crops.''

 

Soy for November delivery advanced for the first time in five sessions, gaining as much as 0.4% to US$9.155 a bushel, before trading at US$9.15 a bushel.

 

La Nina may hurt soy crops in the US, the largest exporter, and South America, if it causes a severe drought between early August and February, Bryce Anderson, agricultural meteorologist at Telvent DTN Inc., said Friday (June 25). It may be too early to predict exactly when the weather phenomenon will arrive and how strong it will be, he said.

 

La Nina, characterised by colder-than-normal sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, may cause wetter-than-usual weather in Asia and below-average rainfall in parts of the US, Argentina and south Brazil, potentially damaging crops.

 

There is a high probability of La Nina developing during India's June-to-September monsoon season, the India Meteorological Department office said Friday (June 25).

 

The market will be monitoring the impact of La Nina on global soy production, particularly in the US, Brazil and Argentina, the three biggest soy exporters, McGuire said. ''When you're dealing with Mother Nature, you've always got those issues, as far as the weather is concerned,'' he said.