Wednesday, February 9, 2011

U.S. Corn Stocks Lower Because of Ethanol- Price Up; K.C. Wheat Closing in on $10.00/bushel

Chicago corn is up 1/2% at $6.77, KC wheat is at $9.8125.
From BusinessWeek:
U.S. Corn-Surplus Cut on Ethanol; Smaller World Crop Projected
U.S. stockpiles of corn before the next harvest will be 9.4 percent smaller than estimated last month, a bigger drop than expected, because of increased ethanol production, the government said.

The surplus on Aug. 31, the end of the marketing year, will be 675 million bushels, down from 745 million forecast in January and less than 1.708 billion on hand a year earlier, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said today in a report. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News expected 729 million bushels, on average. Corn prices have jumped 89 percent in the past year.
“The function of the market could be to trade higher to ration demand,” Dan Cekander, the director of grain research for Newedge USA LLC in Chicago, said before the report. The rally also will help to “encourage a large expansion in planted acreage,” he said....MORE
The Des Moines Register's headline is:
USDA says corn stocks lowest since 1995