海角大神

Prices聽for wheat and聽corn聽are finally easing after a new crop estimate from the government came in line with the predictions of private analysts.

Corn聽for December delivery settled down 14.5 cents to $8.0925 a bushel Friday.

Corn聽has been mostly rising since late June, when it traded below $6 a bushel, because of the drought affecting farm states throughout the Plains and Midwest.

Wheat聽prices聽fell after the Department of Agriculture forecast adequate supplies for the grain. September wheat fell 27.75 cents to $8.8525 a bushel. Soybeans for November delivery rose 12.5 cents to $16.4375 a bushel.

The government slashed its forecasts for U.S.聽corn聽for a second month, predicting what could be the lowest average聽corn聽yield in more than 15 years.

Mark Schultz, chief analyst at Northstar Commodity in Minneapolis, said that the USDA's predictions didn't come as a surprise to the commodities market. "We've already had some private analysts suggesting the crop could be that low," Schultz said.

Schultz said there may be more聽price聽declines in store for聽corn. "Tell me how many people want to buy聽cornat that聽price聽level? Not many," Schultz said. "Because they're already losing money on whatever they're using that product for."

Schultz noticed that the USDA report signaled adequate wheat supplies, which could help bring down wheatprices. And since farmers often switch to using wheat as livestock feed when聽corn聽gets too expensive, a lower wheat聽price聽could at least rein in the聽corn聽prices.

Corn聽is used in a wide variety of products including ethanol, animal feed, cereal, soda, cake mixes and candy bars. Rick Whitacre, a professor of agricultural economics at Illinois State University, says consumers may see modest聽price聽increases at grocery stores.

Whitacre said the biggest聽price聽jump is likely to be a 4 to 6 percent increase for beef and pork, as many ranchers have sold livestock as pastures dry up and feed costs rise.

In other commodities trading, energy and metals聽prices聽were mostly lower.

Benchmark crude fell 49 cents to $92.87 a barrel in New York. In London. Brent crude dropped 27 cents to $112.95 on the ICE Futures exchange.

Natural gas fell 17.5 cents, or 5.9 percent, to $2.77 per 1,000 cubic feet, the lowest close in a month. Heating oil fell 2.45 cents to $3.0205 per gallon and gasoline less than a penny to $3.004 a gallon.

Gold for December delivery rose $2.60 to $1,622.80 per ounce.

September silver fell 3.5 cents to $28.062 per ounce. October platinum fell $12.90 to $1,399.90 per ounce. September copper fell 3.25 cent to $3.3925 per pound and September palladium fell $4.50 to $582.20 per ounce.

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AP Business Writers Jim Suhr and Christina Rexrode contributed to this story.