Corn prices surged today after a new report showed drastically less of the crop is currently available than expected. The amount of acres planted also came in below forecasts, according to AP. The Department of Agriculture said there were 4.31 billion bushels of corn currently available and 87.9 million acres planted for the upcoming harvest season. Analysts were expecting nearly 4.6 billion bushels would still be available from last year's harvest and 89.2 million acres of farmland were planted with corn, said Jason Ward, an analyst with Northstar Commodity in Minneapolis. Even the USDA's reading on acres planted was lower than its previous forecast in March, when it said farmers intended to plant 88.8 million acres of corn. Based on expected harvests, 1 million acres of corn would yield about 163.5 million bushels of the crop. That means analysts forecast there would be about 500 million more bushels of corn available than the Department of Agriculture reported. «The USDA threw a curveball,» Ward said. «It totally shocked the market.» Corn for September delivery skyrocketed 29.25 cents, or 8.9 percent, to settle at $3.6275 a bushel following the report. Corn prices had fallen in recent days as investors believed there to be significantly more supply of the crop. Wheat followed corn higher. Ward said the report on available wheat and this season's plantings were largely inline with expectations. Wheat for September delivery jumped 23.25 cents, or 5.1 percent, to settle at $4.8025 a bushel. Soybeans edged down half a cent to $9.31 a bushel. Energy and metals prices traded in a tight range, similar to the small movements in the stock market. Gold for August delivery rose $3.70 to settle at $1,245.90 an ounce. September copper rose 2 cents to settle at $2.9505 a pound after plummeting a day earlier as part of a broad sell-off in the commodities market. Silver for September delivery rose 7.3 cents to $18.708 an ounce. Benchmark crude oil for August delivery fell 31 cents to $75.63 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Among other August energy contracts, heating oil fell 3.55 cents to settle at $2.0143 a gallon, while gasoline dipped 0.47 cents to $2.0604 a gallon. Natural gas rose 6.5 cents to $4.652 per 1,000 cubic feet.
