Friday, April 15, 2011

Fertilizers (POT) (MOS) (AGU) Down on Falling Corn, Wheat Soybean Prices

Corn, wheat and soybean prices all dropped on Thursday, as did the major fertilizer companies Potash Corp. (NYSE:POT), Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) and Agrium (NYSE:AGU).

In May contracts, wheat dropped 12.25 cents to settle at $7.405 a bushel, corn fell 1.25 cents to $7.5425 a bushel and soybeans lost 2.5 cents to $13.31 a bushel.

For the first time since 1996, Corn prices were higher than wheat Wednesday and Thursday, as corn was also short supply at that time, although this time it's a man-made problem from the misguided and highly controversial forcing of ethanol into the gas tanks of American car, pressuring the corn supply and pushing corn prices up.

Some farmers are buying wheat against corn to feed their livestock because corn prices have risen so quickly because of tight supplies,

Fertilizer companies usually fall when the price of wheat, corn and soybeans fall, as it's perceived farmers will cut back on spending on inputs.

Mosaic was trading at $75.49, falling $1.30, or 1.69 percent. Agrium was trading at $88.20, down $0.70, or 0.79 percent. Potash was trading at $56.19, dropping $0.49, or 0.86 percent.

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