The corn exchange traded fund plunged in recent weeks, with corn futures slipping back into a bear market less than a month after breaking into bull territory, as much needed U.S. rain ease crop concerns and potentially raise yields in the next harvest.
Since its June 17 high, the Teucrium Corn Fund (NYSEArca: CORN) declined 18.3%. CORN is now down 7.2% year-to-date.
Corn futures were 2.6% lower Wednesday to $3.415 per bushel and were down 22.9% since its June 17 high.
Weighing on the corn market, Joel Widenor, vice president at Commodity Weather Group, said the southern third of the Midwest experienced rains in the past four days while northern areas are expected to see precipitation before the weekend, which should help maintain adequate soil moisture for crops, Bloomberg reports.
This is a sharp reversal from the previous month when concerns over dry and hot weather pushed corn futures into a bull market.
“Rain this weekend provided timely relief,” Joe Camp, a risk management specialist at Bloomington, told Bloomberg. “It is increasingly likely we will produce good crops. Demand will need to improve on this break to stabilize prices.”
[related_stories]The improved weather outlook is also raising projections for production as crops enter the pollination period.