Global wheat production may rise by 5.1 percent to 681.2 million tons this year, the third-biggest crop since at least 1960, the USDA estimated in October. The IGC expects 684 million tons and the UN's Food & Agriculture Organization 691 million tons.

Agricultural demand may also be weaker than expected should economies keep slowing. Corn demand rose 1.1 percent in 2009, the least in six years, as nations contended with the worst global recession since World War II, USDA data show. Soybean use fell 3.9 percent that year, the most since 1984, and wheat consumption retreated 0.7 percent in 2008, the most in four years, according to the USDA.

Global Expansion

The global economy will expand 4 percent next year, unchanged from this year, the International Monetary Fund forecast in September. The Washington-based group cut its 2012 prediction by 0.5 percentage point.

The economy in China, accounting for almost 22 percent of global corn consumption, will expand 9 percent next year, the IMF estimates. Global corn usage will gain 2.4 percent to 863 million tons in the 12 months ending in June, the IGC said Oct. 27, raising its forecast by 10 million tons. Wheat consumption will advance 3.4 percent to 677 million tons, the group said.

U.S. demand for corn used to make ethanol may exceed feed use for the second straight year in 2012, the USDA estimates. Refiners will buy 5 billion bushels (127 million tons) in the 12 months ending in August, and livestock farmers 4.7 billion bushels, the USDA said in a report Oct. 12.

Ethanol Profit

Refiners are buying more corn as profit margins last week widened to the most in a year, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Gasoline futures rallied 26 percent in the past year on the New York Mercantile Exchange, boosting the competitiveness of ethanol.

Corn for immediate delivery cost 18.2 cents a bushel more than futures last month in Decatur, Illinois, the highest October premium in at least four years, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The city is home to Archer Daniels Midland Co., the second-largest U.S. ethanol producer.

Pilgrim's Pride, a unit of JBS SA based in Greeley, Colorado, reported a third-quarter loss of $162.5 million on Oct. 28 and said prices for feed ingredients remain volatile. There was "another structural shift" in corn prices this year that will persist through at least 2012, Tyson Foods President Donnie Smith told analysts on a conference call on Sept. 7.

Farmers contended with extreme growing conditions this season. Average temperatures in the Midwest were as much as 8 degrees Fahrenheit above normal in July, and some farms from Illinois to Indiana were the driest ever that month, according to Kyle Tapley, an agricultural meteorologist for Rockville, Maryland-based MDA Information Systems Inc.

Price Gains

Corn futures averaged $6.90 this year, more than twice the annual average of the past decade, and are heading for the costliest year on record. Soybeans averaged 76 percent more than the 10-year average and wheat 61 percent more.