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IMC Fertilizer up: A rise of 6 percent in the share price of Northbrook-based IMC Fertilizer Group Inc.’s share price was being tied to the outlook for a surge in corn prices and a sharp increase in corn acreage next year, which is expected to push fertilizer prices higher. The Department of Agriculture Tuesday lowered its corn-harvest estimate for the fifth straight month, predicting that 1993’s harvest will fall 31.4% from last year. The reduced harvest “is very bullish for corn prices, which in turn is positive for fertilizer prices,” says Christopher Willis, analyst at Wertheim Schroder. The corn shortfall is expected to result in farmers planting 80 million acres of the crop in 1994, compared with 73.7 million acres in 1993.
