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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCorn Supply Slumps Most Since ’75 on Ethanol Profit
By Jeff Wilson - Mar 27, 2013
Corn supplies in the U.S., the biggest grower, are shrinking at the fastest pace in almost four decades as improving demand from ethanol refiners drains reserves already diminished by drought.
Stockpiles probably fell 38 percent in three months to 4.995 billion bushels (126.9 million metric tons) by March 1, the biggest drop since 1975, according to the average of 31 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. AgResource Co. in Chicago and Northstar Commodity Investments Inc. in Minneapolis expect prices to jump 12 percent to $8.25 a bushel before supply rebounds with a record harvest in September.
After idling refining capacity when corn reached a record in August, ethanol plants expanded output since January as falling grain costs and rising fuel prices drove profit margins to a nine-month high. Demand from the industry, which uses two of every five bushels in the U.S., provides the strongest upside risk for corn, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said March 11. Thats boosting feed costs for meat and dairy producers even as global food prices extend their longest slump since 2009.
Corn supplies are going to be tighter than we have ever seen, said Kent Jessen, the director of merchandising for West Des Moines, Iowa-based Heartland Cooperative, which has 52 grain terminals across 17 counties. Some people are going to run out of corn this summer. Ethanol processors are the best bid for corn, and that is drawing supplies away from exporters and livestock producers.
more...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-27/corn-supply-slumps-most-since-75-on-ethanol-profit-commodities.html
Purveyor
(29,876 posts)DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Farmers intend to plant 97.3 million acres of corn this year, the most since 1936, the USDA's spring planting survey said Thursday.
The survey said the 2013 corn planting forecast is up slightly from last year's 97.2 million acres.
Corn remains profitable, as prices are holding strong at around $7 per bushel after last year's severe drought left the grain in short supply. In a separate report, the USDA said corn stocks fell 10 percent from a year ago to 5.40 billion bushels.
Record corn acreage is expected in Arizona, Idaho, Minnesota, Nevada, North Dakota, and Oregon. And Iowa, the nation's leading corn producer, will plant an estimated 14.2 million acres in corn, the same as last year.
more...
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_PLANTING_ESTIMATE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-03-28-13-06-20
As long as we get the rain...
pscot
(21,024 posts)which will hit the poorest Americans hardest, are subsidizing the car culture. Is this a great country, or what.