In southern Europe, temperatures will rise to 40 degrees Celsius during the corn flowering period. The US is also expected to be hot and dry.
Corn prices on the CBoT rose sharply on Tuesday. The most heavily traded December future jumped 28.5 ct to 534.5 ct/bu (191 EUR/t). On Euronext, the November future gained EUR 2.50 to EUR 213/t.
Despite the slight improvement in US corn acreage ratings, the market remains sceptical. Ratings are still at their lowest level in 11 years. In addition, the Corn Belt is expected to be hot and dry over the next two weeks, which could lead to yield losses on already severely parched soils.
Temperature records
In Europe too, there is growing concern about the maize crop. A heat wave is breaking temperature records in southern Europe. Corn plants are suffering at a crucial stage in yield formation. As a result of the heat, French consultancy Strategy Grains is considering further reductions in its estimates for the EU harvest. Extremely hot weather is expected in Romania in the coming days, as well as in other major producers such as Hungary, Italy and Spain. “Temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius cannot be good for maize in full bloom,” Benoit Faydaud, head of grain analysis at Strategie Grains, told Reuters. The consultancy had already cut its estimate for the EU corn crop by 400,000 tonnes to 60.8 million tonnes in the previous week.