Corn futures have suffered their steepest fall in 15 years after record prices prompted US farmers to defy wet spring weather to plant a sharply increased acreage of the grain.

　　玉米期貨價格遭遇15年來最急遽的下滑，原因是此前創紀錄的高價促使美國農場主不顧今春雨水豐沛的不利天氣情況，大幅增加玉米種植面積。  

　　The decline in the corn (maize) price – if it persists – could help support the Federal Reserve’s view that the recently seen higher US inflation could be transitory.

　　如果持續下去，玉米期貨價格的下降將為美聯儲(FED)的觀點提供支撐，即美國最近有所抬頭的通貨膨脹可能是暫時性的。Lower food prices could also bode well for the US economic outlook. In its June statement, the Federal Open Market Committee, which sets interest rates, cited “higher food prices” and their damping effect on consumer spending as one of the conditions restraining the -economy.

　　糧食價格下降對于美國經濟前景也是個好兆頭。在6月份發表的聲明中，負責設定聯邦基金利率的聯邦公開市場委員會(Federal Open Market Committee)稱， “糧食價格上漲”以及其對消費者支出的抑制效應，是遏制經濟的部分因素。 

　　Three weeks ago corn was less than a penny short of $8 per bushel, an all-time high, and analysts warned that prices would need to stay high to keep critically low stocks from running out before harvest time.

　　3周前，玉米價格為歷史最高點——距離每蒲式耳8美元只有不到1美分的差距，并且，分析師警告稱，為了讓低至接近警戒線的玉米庫存能夠維持到收成時節，玉米價格必須維持在高位。But the US Department of Agriculture said on Thursday that farmers in fertile states such as Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska had sown unexpectedly large amounts of corn. At 92.3m acres, US plantings were the second biggest since the second world war and came in spite of soggy fields and damaging floods. The US is the largest corn producer and exporter.

　　 然而，美國農業部(Department of Agriculture)周四表示，在愛荷華、明尼蘇達、內布拉斯加等農業大州，今年玉米種植面積大得出人意料。美國總種植面積達到9230萬英畝，是二戰以來第二高點，并且是在土地濕潤、有洪澇災害的不利天氣情況下。美國是世界最大的玉米生產國和出口國。 “Everything we’d been staring at said [farmers] just couldn’t get out in the field,” said Chad Hart, agricultural economist at Iowa State University. “Well, evidently they did.”

　　“我們監控的所有跡象都表明，（農場主們）不可能下田種植，”愛荷華大學(Iowa State University)農業經濟學家查德?哈特(Chad Hart)表示，“可是，顯然他們去了。” High prices have also begun to cut into corn consumption as meat producers shift to other feeds. In the three months to June 1 implied demand fell 15.7 percent from the same period last year.

　　隨著玉米價格的提高，畜牧業者開始使用非玉米飼料，導致玉米消費量也開始減少。截至6月1日的三個月內，玉米的隱性需求比去年同期下降了15.7%。 

　　Corn has led major food commodities higher, rising 77 percent in the past year as demand from US, China and other big consumers threatened to run down supplies.

　　玉米價格也帶動了主要農產品價格的上漲。隨著美國、中國和其它消費大戶的需求即將耗盡庫存，去年主要農產品價格上漲了77%。