2. Crop Prices Buoyed by Hot Weather, Tight Rapeseed Market, Commerzbank Says Grain and oilseed prices have been buoyed in recent weeks by hot, dry weather in the U.S. Midwest, and a new report shows the rapeseed crop in France, formerly Europe’s biggest producer of the oilseed, will drop to a 20-year low, according to reports from Commerzbank. About 72% of the U.S. corn crop was rated good or excellent condition as of Sunday, down from 76% a week earlier, the Agriculture Department said earlier this week. Some 67% of soybeans earned top ratings, the first rating for the crop this year, but behind the 72% that was rated good or excellent during the same week last year, the USDA said.