News

Grain economist sees ‘glimmers of hope’ in corn market

An extension grain market economist sees some glimmers of hope in the corn market.

Ed Usset with the University of Minnesota says it will take time to eat through an anticipated huge U.S. crop.

“But demand is good, and strong demand will at least stabilize things. And we’re trading 35 cents off our life of contract lows in mid-August. Thirty-five cents off a very low price is not exactly reason to party, but it’s a start.”

He tells Brownfield there are questions about how big U.S. corn production will be.

“Sometimes we get surprised at the number of bushels out there, both being bigger than we expected or smaller than expected. And that could make for a nice rally after harvest, or we might revisit the lows if we find out the crop is even bigger than we thought.”

Usset says despite USDA trimming its corn yield projection in last week’s supply and demand report, an increase in harvested acreage resulted in a record-high production estimate of 16.8 billion bushels.