Corn Marketing

In Tuesdays Ag Answers we talked about the surplus of soybeans on the market... And the export market for U.S. *corn is good... record setting good. But as Todd Gleason reports that pace may not last through the next marketing year. Gleason: The United States has been exporting corn at a record pace despite record high prices. December corn futures at the Chicago Board of Trade went above the four-dollar mark for the very first time in January. Not only for the very first time for the 2007 December futures contract, but for all December contracts that have ever traded on the board. Truly four-dollar December corn futures is an historic event. So is the fact that U.S. corn exports are on track to set a record at two-and-quarter-billion bushels shipped says University of Illinois Ag Economist Darrel Good. Good: Thats up more than 100 million… …I dont think that will carryover into the 07/08 marketing year. Gleason: The current export market for U.S. corn was set up last spring when Argentina harvested a short crop, and then further pushed along by the world shortage of wheat. Corn can sometimes be swapped for wheat as a feed grain. Australia had a near complete wheat crop failure. It all culminated in a very bright 06/07 export market for U.S. corn. Good: Mexico is kind of leading the way…. …favorable for demand for U.S. corn. Gleason: Favorable for this marketing year, but thats likely to change with the harvest of the 2007 corn crop. Good: What we see is a much larger Argentine corn crop coming on… …softening of export demand as we move forward. Gleason: This seasons wheat crop should rebound and Darrel Good says thatll allow livestock producers around the world to put wheat back into their feed rations. Argentina and Brazil will put competition back into the corn export market with their 2007 harvests.