May 28 (Bloomberg) -- Rice futures plunged for a third day to a two-month low as producers resumed exports, boosting global supplies, and a report showed improved crop conditions in the U.S., the world's fourth-biggest supplier.
The July contract on the Chicago Board of Trade dropped as much as 5.5 percent to $18.52 per 100 pounds, the lowest since March 24, after declining by the daily limit for the past two days. Cambodia lifted an export ban this week, and Vietnam said May 21 it will remove a ban on new overseas shipments in July.
The staple for half the world has lost as much as 26 percent since reaching a record last month, when it was buoyed by export curbs from China, Vietnam and India. Record prices for food, including wheat, corn and palm oil, have stoked concern about shortages and caused unrest from Haiti to Egypt.
``We will see more supplies in the coming months as producers in Southeast Asia harvest their crops,'' Kazuhiko Saito, strategist at Interes Capital Management Co. in Tokyo said today. ``Producers may try to sell as much as possible following record price levels.''
The July contract fell 74.5 cents, or 3.8 percent, to $18.855 per 100 pounds at 9:23 a.m. Singapore time, after declining by the daily limit of 75 cents yesterday. The price is still 78 percent higher than a year ago.
In the U.S., about 72 percent of the rice crop was in good or excellent condition, up from 65 percent a week earlier and 67 percent a year earlier, the Department of Agriculture said yesterday in a report. About 94 percent of the U.S. crop was seeded as of May 25, compared with 84 percent a week earlier and 97 percent at the same time in 2007, it said.
To contact the reporter for this story: Jae Hur in Singapore at jhur1@bloomberg.net
By Jae Hur
http://www.bloomberg.com
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