Commodities : Tuesday, July 1, 1986 : Corn Futures Drop Sharply

Corn futures prices plunged sharply Tuesday and pulled most other farm commodity prices lower on the Chicago Board of Trade.

The July corn contract slumped just short of the 10 cent-a-bushel limit for daily trading and brought prices 25 cents below what they were a week ago.

“Basically it’s a weakness in the cash market that’s undermining the July delivery,” said Dale Gustafson, an analyst with Drexel Burnham Lambert.

Weekend rains over much of the nation’s midsection and cooler temperatures diminished concerns that hot, dry conditions could interfere with the corn crop in areas where the pollination stage is being reached, Gustafson said. The forecast now is for nearly ideal weather for the rest of summer. After the weekend rains, Gustafson said, some producers began worrying about space problems once the harvest begins and “decided it was time to get rid of corn now.”

The decline in corn futures pulled most of the other farm commodities lower, too.

Livestock and meat prices rallied from early morning weakness to close mostly higher at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.