Tuesday, October 29, 2013

There is So Much Corn and It Is Being Harvested So Fast That There Is A Shortage of Propane to Dry It

Today's $4.29 print was a life of contract low.
From Agrimoney:
Rapid US corn harvest fuels propane shortage fears
US farmers are harvesting  corn harvest so fast that there is a "growing concern" they have enough fuel to dry the crop which, thanks to cool and moist conditions, is coming in relatively wet.
US farmers harvested 20% of their corn acreage in the week to Sunday, equivalent to nearly 18m acres (7.2m hectares), using the latest official estimate of the area that growers will harvest.
That progress, equivalent to an area bigger than Ireland, took the total harvested to 59%, and represented one of the fastest weeks on record.
Last year, for instance, harvest progress peaked at 15%.
"This is only the fourth time that US farmers have harvested 20% or more in one week," Paul Georgy, president at broker Allendale, said.
And the extent of the grain harvested, after weather which has presented growers with rains but without the frost to help drydown, is fuelling a shortage of propane needed to dry the crop.
'Growing concern'
"There is a growing concern over the inability to get propane, which is used in corn dryers around the country, for drying corn," CHS Hedging said.
"Cool Midwest temperatures don't allow the corn to dry down very easily," the broker said, reporting at 17-25% the level of moisture in crop harvested over the weekend....MORE
We've been posting on this price weakness since  December 2012: 
Dec 2012
March
Corn Hammered Limit Down on Stocks/Intentions Report
May
Corn: Deutsche sees potential for price below $4
July
Macquarie Calling For Corn in the Low $4's 
August
4 Reasons Why Corn Could Get Cheaper Still
Corn Futures Resume Normal Service, Collapse
September
Iowa State's Worst Case Corn Prices: $2.89 By 2017

And many more. It's almost depressing how monotonic the declines have become.