[r7rGOhvd]

Wheat fell in Chicago on speculation world stockpiles of the grain will touch an all-time high by the current marketing year’s end in May.

Inventories may reach a record 213.1 million metric tons in the period, U.S. Department of Agriculture figures show. Global stocks may come to 220 million tons in the coming 2012-13 marketing year, Mike O’Dea, a senior risk manager at INTL FCStone Inc., said yesterday. Prices are down 1.5 percent this year, partly on speculation inventories would swell.

“The inventory outlook is quite stable compared to corn and soybeans,” said Nick Higgins, a London-based analyst at Rabobank International.

Wheat for May delivery dropped 0.4 percent to $6.4325 a bushel by 1:15 p.m. London time on the Chicago Board of Trade, this week’s second decline. Milling wheat for May delivery traded on NYSE Liffe in Paris gained 0.1 percent to 206.25 euros ($247.27) a ton.

Corn for May delivery rose 0.1 percent to $6.42 a bushel in Chicago. Soybeans for delivery in the same month climbed 0.2 percent to $12.815 a bushel, advancing for an eighth session in nine.