Chicago agricultural commodities slide on outlook for high yields

Chicago agricultural commodities dropped across the board Friday on market expectations of bumper harvest in the United States, European Union (EU) and Russia.
The most active corn contract for December delivery dropped 4.5 cents, or 1.22 percent, to 3.6475 U.S. dollars per bushel. December wheat shed 8.25 cents, or 1.44 percent, to 5.635 dollars per bushel. November soybean lost 4.5 cents, or 0.44 percent, to 10.2425 dollars per bushel.
Corn, soybeans and wheat all came under new selling pressure Friday as talks of high crop yields prevailed and traders feared that such expectation would be strengthened next week as the harvest expands. It is reported that some 800 acres of corn has been harvested as far north as Springfield, IL, with the yield ranging from 220-240 bushels per acre.
Meanwhile, the EU is also expected a record corn crop of more than 70 million tonnes.
U.S. Department of Agriculture Friday reported sale of 123,000 tonnes of soybeans to China. Chinese banks are demanding additional down payment for the letter of credit on soybeans, which will slow the growth of China's soybean imports in 2014-2015 to just 1-4 million tonnes, with total imports expected at 70-73 million tonnes.
Weather forecast showed that U.S. Midwest holds a chance of rain in the next five days before a drier trend in the middle of next week.
Market analysts hold that if corn falls below 3.6 dollars and soybeans below 10.2 dollars, the prices of the grains will keep dropping technically.