Falling prices, bad weather leads to dip in earnings at GM corn firm

Plunging corn prices and adverse weather helped prompt DuPont Co, the maker of Pioneer genetically modified corn, to trim its full-year earnings forecast as some farmers switched to soybeans.

Second-quarter operating profit will be “moderately” less than a year earlier, the Wilmington, Delaware-based company said yesterday in a statement. Operating earnings in 2014 are predicted to be $4 to $4.10 (€2.95 to €3) a share, less than its previous projection of $4.20 to $4.45 (€3.08 to €3.27) and trailing the average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. DuPont slid 2.5% to $65.99 (€48.40) in early trading in New York yesterday.

Some farmers switched to soybeans this year after the price of corn slumped from a record in 2013, leading DuPont to take more writedowns on seed inventories than it expected.