Corn Falls After Farmers Catch Up on Planting

The price of corn fell after U.S. farmers planted record amounts of corn last week, easing concerns that earlier planting delays would harm this year’s crop.

Corn for July delivery dropped 9.5 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $6.40 a bushel.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said late Monday that 71 percent of the U.S. corn crop had been planted as of Sunday, compared with only 28 percent a week earlier.

“The farmers did a spectacular job in making up for lost time,” said Sterling Smith, a commodities strategist at Citigroup.

The earlier in the season that corn is planted, the less susceptible the crop is to weather problems later in the year. Planting had been delayed by cold weather.

In other agricultural products trading, wheat fell, while soybeans advanced.

In metals trading, gold for June delivery fell $6.50, or 0.5 percent, to $1,377.60 an ounce. The precious metal has declined for eight of the last nine days as its attraction as an alternative investment has faded as the U.S. dollar strengthened.

Other metals also fell.

Silver for July delivery fell 12.7 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $22.455 an ounce. Copper for the same month fell 1.65 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $3.3435 a pound. Platinum for July delivery fell $26.20, or 1.8 percent, to $1,458.40 an ounce. Palladium for June delivery fell $2.65, or 0.4 percent, to $748.10 an ounce.