US corn, soy futures lost more ground on recession fears

 

Wheat dropped after rising on short-covering in the previous session.

 

Financial panics mounted after the US Treasury rejected the US$700 billion bailout fund to wipe out bad mortgage debts and bank credits as well as gloomy economic and corporate news battering the markets.

 

US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said he was backing away from buying troubled mortgage assets and would focus on the capital needs of both banks and non-bank financial institutions.

 

Kazuhiko Saito, a strategist at Interes Capital Management Co. in Tokyo said crude oil is coming down as all commodities are under pressure because of the bad state of the economy.

 

He added that soy and corn will continue to remain in bear trend and CBOT December futures may fall to US$3.30 (per bushel) by next week, and for November soy our target price is US$8.20.

 

CBOT December corn delivery fell 1.1 percent to US$3.65- per bushel while November soy lost 1.3 percent to US$8.74 per bushel.

 

Corn, which has lost half of its value since hitting a record high in June, fell 1 percent on Wednesday and neared a one-year low. On the other hand, soy lost 2.5 percent in overnight US trade.

 

December wheat fell 1.5 percent to US$5.25- per bushel after rising 1.9 percent in the previous session.

 

Crude oil, which leads price direction to corn and soy, fell to a 22-month low of US$55 a barrel as mounting pessimism about the global economy outweighed OPEC's comments that it could cut output again as early as end-November.

 

The USDA this week raised its projections for global wheat production to a record 682 million tonnes, up about 2.0 million from its October forecast, reflecting on bigger European and Russian crops as well as poorer quality wheat that should displace corn in livestock feed.

 

A downturn in meat consumption around the world has hit demand for corn, along with an ailing US ethanol industry that relies on corn as a feedstock.