Jim Rogers: "Whatever happens, commodity wins." Rice climbed to the costliest since 2008 on concern higher guaranteed prices for farmers in Thailand <http://topics.bloomberg.com/thailand/>, the top shipper, will boost export costs as import demand grows.
September-delivery rough rice increased as much as 2.3 percent to $17.07 per 100 pounds, the highest price for the most-active contract since October 2008, the year of the global food crisis. The price was at $16.93 at 3:08 p.m. in Singapore <http://topics.bloomberg.com/singapore/>. Indonesia <http://topics.bloomberg.com/indonesia/>, the third-largest rice consumer, plans to import for a second year to boost stockpiles to 2 million tons from 1.5 million tons, Trade Minister Mari Pangestu said yesterday. Futures Climb Production in the U.S., the third-biggest<http://www.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/psdreport.aspx?hidReportRetrievalName=BVS&hidReportRetrievalID=677&hidReportRetrievalTemplateID=7>shipper, may slump to 6 million tons from 7.55 million tons a year ago, the Department of Agriculture said. The USDA cut its estimate for the 2011-2012 harvest from 6.4 million tons a month earlier. Futures may advance to as high as $22 per 100 pounds this year as dry weather in Texas <http://topics.bloomberg.com/texas/> and floods in Arkansas threaten to cut U.S. production, Jack Scoville<http://topics.bloomberg.com/jack-scoville/>, a vice president for Price Futures Group Inc. in Chicago said yesterday. Wheat for September delivery was little changed at $7.155 a bushel, while corn for December delivery added 0.2 percent to $6.8125 a bushel. Soybeans for November delivery gained 0.2 percent to $13.83 a bushel. Almost a third of Midwest corn and soybean crops may be hurt by unusually hot, dry weather over the next 15 days after high winds flattened some fields from Iowa to Ohio <http://topics.bloomberg.com/ohio/> this week, Commodity Weather Group LLC predicted yesterday. The Midwest is the largest growing region. “People are worried about that,” Kelly Wiesbrock, managing director at Harvest Capital Strategies LLC, said by phone from San Francisco<http://topics.bloomberg.com/san-francisco/>today. “There are a lot of people sitting on the edge,” concerned about U.S. yields as global stockpiles of corn and soybeans decline, he said. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-14/rice-jumps-to-highest-since-2008-as-thailand-helps-farmers-supply-drops.html '+'
