July 31, 2012

 

US crops to deteriorate further on dry, hot weather

 

 

US 2012 corn and soy crop production will continue to be trimmed as dry and hot weather in the US Midwest for the next week or two will further erode crop conditions.

 

"It looks like a continued trend of below-average precipitation in the Midwest for the next week to 10 days," said John Dee, meteorologist for Global Weather Monitoring, on Monday (July 30).

 

Temperatures this week will warm into the upper 80s to low 90s degrees Fahrenheit, with only a few light showers in the east on Monday (July 30) and some rainfall later in the week, he said.

 

"There are no widespread soaking rains in sight. Thursday (Aug 2) and Friday (Aug 3) there could be scattered showers, and by the weekend from 0.30 to 0.80 inch with coverage of about 75 to 80%," Dee said. "There won't be as much stress as recently, but crops will continue to deteriorate."

 

There were mixed signals for the weather early next week, with some weather models showing some rain but others indicating that the dryness would continue.

 

Rains brought some relief from drought in the northern and eastern Midwest, but overall crops will continue to suffer from the worst drought in more than 50 years, especially in the central and southern Corn Belt.

 

A lessened US harvest was raising worries about the ability of the world's largest food exporter to meet the needs of food processors, livestock producers and ethanol makers. The lack of rain was also drying up waterways and slowing river shipments of commodities to export ports on the Gulf of Mexico.

 

Corn and soy conditions have been on a rapid skid this summer, falling to their worst conditions since the last US drought of 1988. Crop specialists expect the USDA to report another drop in conditions in its weekly crop report released later on Monday (July 30).

 

Commodity Weather Group (CWG) on Monday (July 30) said recent rains had scaled down the driest areas to about 40% of the Midwest soy for much of this week.

 

But "the return of drier conditions to the central and south western belt will allow concerns to quickly return to at least half of the belt," CWG said.

 

Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) corn futures were up more than US$0.20 per bushel, or 2.69%, and soy up US$0.35, or 2%, on Monday (July 30) as investors bought on fears of a crop shortfall in the US this year.