Corn Futures Will Continue to Rise because of Several Factors

Corn futures on the Chicago Board of Trade finished higher on Wednesday, with a number of factors continuing to contribute to its rise.

Future contracts for May increased to $5.52 1/4, up by 7 1/2 cents; July contracts finished at $5.65, and increase of 8 cents; December contracts ended at $5.68 1/2, an increase of 8 3/4 cents.

While speculators played some role in the increase, as consumer confidence reports and the dollar starting to drop again have brought them back to commodities, after their exodus last week.

Other drivers that should guarantee continuing price increases are the midwest corn fields which are being held back from being planted because of wet fields; and forecasts are it'll continue getting rain over the next week, further slowing the planting season - especially in the southeastern portion.

Overall consensus by analysts from a Dow Jones Newswires' survey are the number of acres planted in corn this year will fall by 6.2 million acres to 97.387 million. That's down from the 93.600 million acres planted in 2007.

Other bad weather news is the the northern half of the midwest could be hit with up to 2 inches of rain, which will cause them to delay corn planting, making the harvest even further off.

If this keeps on much longer, the price of corn will probably continue to go up, as there could be anticipated times of low supply.

Of course the ethanol issue continues to rear its ugly head as the battle for corn, acreage and planting other crops like wheat continues on, reeking havoc in American agriculture and the price of food.