Corn futures topped the $5-a-bushel mark for the first time in 18 months as weaker-than-expected US crop tour results add to global supply concerns for the staple grain, reports Bloomberg. Reports from Western Iowa and Illinois show corn yields below those seen last year, according to data from the Pro Farmer Crop Tour. Yields in four other Midwestern states surveyed also came below the tour’s three-year average. This is after parts of the central US — where most of the crop is grown — were recently hit by severe storms and sweltering temperatures earlier in the summer. Adding to the strain on global supply: Europe was hit by a series of summer heat waves, France is forecasting its smallest corn harvest since 1980, and attacks in the Black Sea have slowed crop exports from Ukraine. “Overall, $5 will likely hold as significant resistance for now as we approach harvest,” said Naomi Blohm, an analyst at Total Farm Marketing.
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