Commodities for Thursday, July 18, 1985 : Rain Dampens Grain Prices

Soybean futures prices continued to slide under pressure from a rainy weather forecast for the upper Corn Belt, while grains were mixed in trading Thursday on the Chicago Board of Trade.

New-crop corn and soybeans for delivery in deferred months bore the brunt of the negative forecast, which should quench the soil’s need for moisture in major production areas, analysts said.

New-crop corn for delivery in December closed at $2.3925, a new contract low, said Bob Lekberg, a grain analyst with Shearson Lehman Bros. in Chicago.

But “tight pipeline supplies” in old-corn crop for delivery in July led to buying, and the July contract, which expires Monday at noon, closed at a three-month high, Lekberg said.

Wheat prices were weighed down by a proposal in the new federal farm bill that would allow farmers to pay off loans at a rate below the amount borrowed in some circumstances, Lekberg said.

Live cattle prices were lower and feeder cattle and hogs were mixed in trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Cattle futures continued to suffer from the price of wholesale carcass beef, which remained at its lowest level in eight years--80 cents a pound.