NEW YORK - Wheat prices climbed further into record territory Wednesday after the Agriculture Department projected that U.S. stockpiles will dwindle to 33-year lows by the end of the crop year.
Meanwhile, energy prices continued their trek higher as crude hit an all-time peak above $79 a barrel. Industrial metals were mixed, while precious metals fell modestly.
The run-up in U.S. wheat - which topped $9 a bushel for the first time ever - grows out of months of robust demand from foreign buyers, who are shopping in an increasingly tight global market and have been willing to pay record-high prices as a result. Wheat crops the world over have been damaged by poor weather conditions, driving more buyers to the market. The USDA projected Wednesday that the country's stocks of wheat at the end of the crop year will decline to 362 million bushels, the lowest since 1973-74.
The December wheat contract jumped 11.5 cents to $9.02 a bushel, after rising as high as $9.07 a bushel.
Separately, the USDA also said private exporters reported sales of 168,000 metric tons of wheat for delivery to unspecified buyers.
Corn and soybean prices also rose sharply. The USDA forecast corn production will reach a healthy 13.3 billion bushels, up 254 million bushels from last month's estimate. The agency trimmed its soybean production forecast, however, by 6 million bushels to 2.6 billion bushels based on prospects for lower crop yields, particularly in the South. Soybean ending stocks are estimated at a slim 215 million bushels, down 5 million bushels from the August estimate and 61 percent below last year's level.
U.S. farmers planted a huge corn crop this year to take advantage of what were record-high prices at the start of 2007, driven by increased demand for corn for ethanol, and cut back their soybean plantings as a result.
December corn added 8.75 cents to $3.50 a bushel, while November soybeans swelled 20.5 cents to $9.41 a bushel.
Elsewhere, oil prices surged after the Energy Information Administration reported a huge draw on the nation's crude inventories. Crude stockpiles sank by 7.1 million barrels last week, while gasoline inventories fell by 700,000 barrels. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected a much smaller, 2.7 million-barrel pull on crude inventories and a 500,000-barrel decline in gasoline supplies.
Light, sweet crude for October delivery jumped 43 cents to $78.66 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after earlier spiking to $79.29 a barrel. Gasoline futures dipped 0.26 cents to $1.9785 a gallon.
Precious metals gave back some of the strong gains made Tuesday. December gold dropped $4.40 an ounce to $716.60 on the Nymex, while December silver fell 13.5 cents to $12.70 an ounce.
Copper prices sagged on a hefty rise in inventories and after union workers at Southern Copper Corp. mines in Peru postponed a strike, according to a Dow Jones Newswires report. Copper on the London Metal Exchange fell 1.7 percent, while the Nymex December contract dropped 3.15 cents to $3.356 a pound.
Other industrial metals were mixed on the LME.
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий