Hot Weather Threatening US Corn Crop (CF, POT, MOS, AGU, SYT, CORN)

The projected US corn crop is currently in worse condition than it’s been in since 2002, which were then the worst since 1990. Only 56% of this year’s crop was judged to be in “good” or “excellent” condition last week. That’s a drop of 7 points from the week before.

The soybean crop is already in worse condition than in any year since 1990. Hot, dry weather throughout the Midwest gets the blame for the poor crop conditions, and no help is in sight from this week’s weather forecast, which continues the hot, dry trend.

Once again, bad news for this year’s crops mean that fertilizer companies are positioned to sell more products for next year. Shares of CF Industries Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CF) is up more than 3.2% today, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. (NYSE: POT) are up 3.6%, The Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) shares are up 4.5%, Agrium Inc. (NYSE: AGU) is up about 1.8%, and Syngenta AG (NYSE: SYT) is up 2.2%. Today’s share price hikes follow gains made last week that were slightly larger and based on crop conditions and the weather forecast.

Corn futures are up more than 2% today, at $6.38/bushel, while soybeans are off slightly.

The Teucrium Corn Fund (AMEX: CORN) is also up about 4% today, at $38.52 in a 52-week range of $35.23-$50.69.

Paul Ausick