NEW YORK (AP):

Corn and soybean prices tumbled Monday, falling the maximum allowed limit on expectations that warm, dry weather in the US Midwest will help crops recover from last month's floods and ease supply concerns.

Corn last week surged close to an all-time high near $8 a bushel, driven up on concerns that more rain would slow crop development in the flood-hit Midwest. But warm conditions have returned in recent days and on the weekend, helping dry out crops just in time for the critical July corn growing period. More warm weather with only scattered rain is expected this week.

"The market is hypersensitive to weather right now and you can't have extreme prices if you have normal weather," said Vic Lespinasse of Grainanalyst.com. "If the weather stays favourable, prices will keep going south. If the weather becomes a threat, they will take off like a rocket."

Corn for December delivery fell the 30-cent daily limit to trade at $7.46 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade. The contract is more than 50 cents off its all-time trading high of $7.9925, reached June 26.

Soybeans for November delivery fell the 70-cent limit to $15.61 a bushel on the CBOT. On Thursday, the last trading day before the July 4 holiday, soybeans surged to an all-time high of $16.3675 a bushel.

Wheat futures dropped nearly the daily limit yesterday, with the September contract falling 50.5 cents to $8.37 a bushel.

Corn and soybean prices have shot up in the last year amid a global push to lock up grain supplies to feed people and livestock. A US initiative to produce fuel ethanol from corn has also pushed up prices, drawing criticism that the United States is inflating world food prices through fuel subsidies.