* Smallest corn crop in 6 years, 2 pct below estimates
* Soy crop 4 pct below trade expectations* Lowest U.S. corn use in 6 years, soy in 9 years
* Russia wheat down 12 pct, China corn up 2.5 pct
* Record soy crop makes Brazil No. 1 in world
The worst U.S. drought in more than half a century has battered the corn and soybean crops with larger losses than expected, causing domestic stockpiles to shrivel to near bare-bones levels, government data showed on Friday. In the most authoritative statement yet on the withered U.S. crops, the Agriculture Department, based on its first samples this season from parched, scorched fields, estimated the corn harvest would drop 13 percent from last year. With production at just 10.8 billion bushels, the yield would be the lowest since 1995. It would be the third disappointing crop in a row for the world's largest corn grower and main agricultural exporter. The USDA slashed its estimate of the corn crop by 17 percent, following a big cut in July. Its latest estimate was 2 percent lower than traders had expected. U.S. inventories of soybeans, a key component of livestock feed from India to Indiana, would be the smallest in nine years after the USDA said only 2.69 billion bushels would be harvested this fall, 4 percent less than traders had expected. Stocks will drop to 115 million bushels, the second-smallest since 1973. Corn prices, which have rallied more than 60 percent since mid-June, briefly surged to a record when the USDA released its report. They later retreated as traders assessed signs that soaring costs were helping curtail demand...more
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