Agricultural futures

THE INTERNATIONAL Grains Council (IGC) lifted its estimate for global maize production for a seventh month, predicting a near-record crop.

Farmers would gather 982.3 million tons of maize in the 2014/15 season – 2.6 million tons more than forecast last month as harvests in the north- ern hemisphere deliver aboveaverage yields, the Londonbased IGC said yesterday. That compares to record output of 984.3 million tons in 2013/14.

An abundance of grain has driven down prices lately, with maize and soya bean prices reaching a five-year low in September. – Bloomberg