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Chicago agricultural commodities fall with Chinese growth concerns

Updated: 2012-04-14 14:39

(Xinhua)

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CHICAGO - Chicago corn, wheat and soybeans all fell in trading Friday, as a strong dollar and worries that a slowing Chinese growth could hurt the commodities markets dominated trading.

The most active corn contract for May delivery lost 8.25 cents, or 1.29 percent, to close at $6.2925 per bushel. May wheat sharply fell 15.75 cents, or 2.46 percent, to settle at $6. 235 per bushel. May soybeans lost 4.25 cents, or 0.29 percent, to close at $14.3675 per bushel.

Market analysts said that agricultural commodities all reversed their Thursday gains Friday, as the markets reacted to lower than expected Chinese first quarter growth.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Chinese gross domestic product grew 8.1 percent in the first quarter, below analysts'expectations of 8.3 percent and the country's slowest quarter growth rate since the global financial crisis.

Outside market influences Friday were thus largely negative, with the US stock market sharply dropping and crude oil also taking a significant hit.

The dollar additionally rose in response to the Chinese data, which in turn further pressured agricultural commodities.

Corn fell to the lowest level since March 30 and closed 29 cents down for the week. In addition to the stronger dollar and outside market negativity, corn also saw pressure from weather issues. The wet weather forecast for the coming week was seen as a strengthening factor for Midwest soil, which could weaken the corn market as traders are already concerned about abundant early plantings.

Also pressured by the good weather forecast, wheat reversed all of Thursday's gains and closed down 15 cents for the week.

Soybeans did not see losses as steep as the other commodities Friday, and ended up 2.75 cents for the week. China bought 165,000 metric tons of US soybeans, bringing China's US soybean imports total this week to 445,000 metric tons.