October 26, 2006

Rain slows US grain harvest

Heavy rains and light snow have slowed the grain and soybean harvest in the US.

This has raised fresh fears about livestock production costs and meat prices as a slower harvest meant lower volumes and higher prices.

Crop-producing regions have largely experienced a slowdown in the harvest of corn and soybeans.

According to USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), US corn growers had harvested nearly half of their acreage, but this was about 10 percent slower than last year. 

Progress slowed in most States, with Colorado, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio producers a week or more behind their normal pace.

The soy harvest is now 76 percent complete, compared with 85 percent last year.

Slow harvest in the crucial Corn Belt and Ohio Valley put the rest of the nation behind schedule.

Soy progress was over a week behind in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio.

Livestock producers can expect to get some reprieve from wheat as a replacement feed if corn and soy yields are affected, analysts said.