SUPPLY WORRIES SEND CORN SOARING - US corn prices reached their highest level in more than two years yesterday as concerns about supply drove industries that use corn to buy the crop.
Corn for December delivery settled 4.2% higher at $5.79 a bushel, continuing a rally that has sent prices up 17% in the last three trading days.
Last Friday, a US government report sparked the surge when it slashed the estimated corn output for the autumn harvest. Then, yesterday, end users such as ethanol plants and cattle farmers' groups chased the market higher.
Professor Jimmy Bourke of agriculture and food development authority Teagasc said there was a lot of uncertainty about global corn output. He said dry weather in South America had also hit output of maize and soya beans, while there were also problems in the former Soviet Union countries. These supply and demand issues were the main reason for market volatility, he added.
Professor Bourke said higher prices meant that more acreage was planted, which eventually led to a fall in prices. But he said increased demand for food would continue, and the world would have to double food production by 2050.
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CURRENCIES - The euro is trading at $1.3955 and 88.15p sterling.
