Corn futures suffer worst monthly drop in June since 2008

Though many commodity prices have surged over the past few years as global consumption rates far outpaced supplies, corn futures suffered their worst monthly loss in June since 2008, according to a published report.

Bloomberg reports that an improving harvest outlook from U.S. producers helped to send corn futures lower in June. Earlier reports from analysts and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) had forecast that harvests would be far lower than actual totals because of inclement weather events that caused many farmers to delay plantings.

However, the USDA released two new reports this week that surprised many analysts. One of the reports showed that while stockpiles are about 15 percent lower than year-ago levels, they are still far higher than many analysts had projected. What's more, the USDA also found that plantings in the U.S. were at some of their highest levels over the past 50 years.

Many U.S. farmers have increasingly worked to plant corn as prices surged, analysts assert.

On the Chicago Board of Trade on Friday morning at 10:15 a.m., corn futures for December delivery fell 4.2 percent, or 27 cents, to trade at $6.20 per bushel.