Record Crop Keeping Corn Prices Down

Stockpiles of corn in the U.S., the world’s top grower, are rising at the fastest pace in 19 years as a record crop overwhelms increased demand for the grain used to make livestock feed and ethanol.

Inventories on Dec. 1, the first tally since the harvest was complete, probably totaled 10.764 billion bushels (273.4 million metric tons), 34 percent more than a year earlier, according to the average of 24 analyst estimates in a Bloomberg survey. The biggest gain for that date since 1994 signals ample supplies may extend the slump in March futures by 9 percent to $3.75 a bushel, according to Newedge USA LLC’s Dan Cekander.

Reserves are recovering after a drought in 2012 sent prices to a record, sparking a surge in output from the U.S. to Brazil and Ukraine. Farmers probably harvested more corn than the government forecast last month, expanding a global glut, separate surveys showed. Corn futures tumbled 40 percent last year, leading a slump in commodity prices that helped send global food costs down 14 percent from an all-time high in 2011.

Bloomberg

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