Commodities : Grains Futures Prices Drop

Clearing weather patterns over a large section of the nation’s interior depressed futures prices of grains, soybeans and cotton on Monday, but helped rally the livestock market. Soybeans lost 12 cents a bushel with the prospect of farmers getting back into harvest work as the soggy fields dry out.

The weather forecast is for mostly dry weather over much of the corn belt this week and the 6- to 10-day outlook is for normal rainfall. “Many farmers should be able to get back to harvesting by Tuesday or Wednesday, particularly in the eastern part of the belt,” said Jerry Gidel, an analyst with G. H. Miller & Co.

Grain and soybean futures began to slip late last week as the weather picture began to clear. But before that, relentless rain for two weeks or more were sending prices higher, mostly because of the harvest delays but also with growing concern that the corn and bean crops could suffer some damage if there wasn’t some relief from the moisture, said Dale Gustafson, an analyst with Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc.

Wheat futures were undercut by the tentative settlement of a grain handlers’ strike in Canada and by Friday’s grain trade agreement between Canada and the Soviet Union.