Corn falls to lowest in more than 3 years

[October 01, 2013]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- The price of corn fell to its lowest in more than three years after a U.S. government estimate of corn stocks came in higher than traders had anticipated.

Corn for December delivery fell 12.5 cents, or 2.8 percent, to $4.4150 a bushel. That's its lowest since Aug. 31, 2010.

The price of corn has been falling this summer after farmers planted the most of the grain in 80 years and last year's drought wasn't repeated.

The United States Agriculture Department said Monday that corn stocks totaled 824 million bushels.

"I don't think anyone expected this much corn available," said Todd Hultman, a grains analyst at DTN.

Soybeans also fell because stocks were higher than traders had predicted. Soybeans for November declined 37 cents, or 2.8 percent, to $12.83 a bushel. Wheat also declined, falling 4.5 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $6.79 a bushel.

December gold fell $12.20, or 0.9 percent, to $1,327 an ounce on Monday. The metal still ended September with its first quarterly gain in a year. The metal rebounded 8.4 percent in the three-month period from July to September after slumping in the second quarter, when it was caught up in a commodities sell-off prompted by concerns that China's growth was slowing. Silver and copper also logged strong gains in the third quarter.

On Monday, silver for December fell 12.30 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $21.71 an ounce. Copper for the same month dropped 0.65 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $3.32 per pound. Platinum for January fell $6.80, or 0.5 percent, to $1,412.40 an ounce, and palladium for December dropped $4.65, or 0.6 percent, to $727.15 an ounce.

In energy trading the price of oil fell as a government shutdown loomed. Benchmark oil for November fell 54 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $102.33 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Wholesale gasoline fell 4 cents to $2.63 per gallon and natural gas lost 3 cents to $3.56 per 1,000 cubic feet. Heating oil retreated 2 cents to $2.97 per gallon.

[Associated Press; By STEVE ROTHWELL]

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.