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.

　　玉米期货价格遭遇15年来最急遽的下滑，原因是此前创纪录的高价促使美国农场主不顾今春雨水丰沛的不利天气情况，大幅增加玉米种植面积。  

　　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.

　　如果持续下去，玉米期货价格的下降将为美联储(FED)的观点提供支撑，即美国最近有所抬头的通货膨胀可能是暂时性的。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.

　　粮食价格下降对于美国经济前景也是个好兆头。在6月份发表的声明中，负责设定联邦基金利率的联邦公开市场委员会(Federal Open Market Committee)称， “粮食价格上涨”以及其对消费者支出的抑制效应，是遏制经济的部分因素。 

　　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，玉米价格为历史最高点——距离每蒲式耳8美元只有不到1美分的差距，并且，分析师警告称，为了让低至接近警戒线的玉米库存能够维持到收成时节，玉米价格必须维持在高位。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，美国农业部(Department of Agriculture)周四表示，在爱荷华、明尼苏达、内布拉斯加等农业大州，今年玉米种植面积大得出人意料。美国总种植面积达到9230万英亩，是二战以来第二高点，并且是在土地湿润、有洪涝灾害的不利天气情况下。美国是世界最大的玉米生产国和出口国。 “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.”

　　“我们监控的所有迹象都表明，（农场主们）不可能下田种植，”爱荷华大学(Iowa State University)农业经济学家查德?哈特(Chad Hart)表示，“可是，显然他们去了。” 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.

　　随着玉米价格的提高，畜牧业者开始使用非玉米饲料，导致玉米消费量也开始减少。截至6月1日的三个月内，玉米的隐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.

　　玉米价格也带动了主要农产品价格的上涨。随着美国、中国和其它消费大户的需求即将耗尽库存，去年主要农产品价格上涨了77%。