FarmPolicy

World Agricultural Outlook Board- WASDE Update

This morning, the World Agricultural Outlook Board (WAOB) released its monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report which contained the latest official government production estimates for the U.S. corn and soybean crops.

The report indicated that, “The forecast U.S. corn yield is reduced 22.6 bushels per acre to 123.4 bushels as extreme heat and dryness continued, and in many areas worsened, during July across the Plains and Corn Belt. As forecast, the 2012/13 corn yield would be the lowest since 1995/96.”

The WASDE update added that, “The first survey-based soybean yield forecast of 36.1 bushels per acre is 4.4 bushels below last month’s projection and 5.4 bushels below last year’s yield.”

Complete estimates for the entire U.S. corn and soybean balance sheet, including projected average farm price, can be viewed by clicking on the tables below, which were part of today’s WAOB report (corn table left, soybean table right).

The Financial Times is reporting today that, “Corn futures surged to a new record high after the US government said that the drought ravaging the US farmbelt had destroyed a sixth of the country’s corn crop in just one month…Wheat, corn and soyabean prices have already surged 25-50 per cent higher since June, with corn and soyabeans surpassing the highs of the 2007-08 food crisis to touch new records.

“The US is the world’s largest corn exporter and is a key supplier of other food commodities including soyabean and wheat. The USDA monthly estimates are among the most closely monitored barometers of food commodities markets.”

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Posted by Keith Good • August, 10, 2012 • 8:07 am

World Food Prices

An article in today’s Wall Street Journal (“Bad Weather Pushes Up Food Prices“) by Liam Pleven, included this helpful graphic illustration regarding trends in world food prices (click on the Wall Street Journal illustration for full view).

The 2012 drought in the United States is a variable that is having some impact on the recent UN Food Price Index.

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Posted by Keith Good • August, 10, 2012 • 5:01 am

Ripple Effects of the 2012 Drought Broaden

Drought Conditions, Prices, and Contract Delivery Concerns

Bloomberg writer Brian K. Sullivan reported yesterday that, “The two worst levels of drought now grip nearly one-fourth of the lower 48 states, the U.S. Drought Monitor reported.

“About 24.1 percent of the region was suffering extreme or exceptional drought in the week ended Aug. 7, up from 22.3 percent in the previous period and 18.3 percent last year, according to the monitor, based in Lincoln, Nebraska.

The article noted that, “While there has been some improvement in the drought in the Midwest, that wasn’t the case in the Great Plains, said Mark Svoboda of the National Drought Mitigation Center in Lincoln.

“‘Maybe the drought overall is improving but the areas hardest hit in the corn and bean belt have intensified,’ Svoboda said by telephone.”

(more…)

Posted by Keith Good • August, 10, 2012 • 4:03 am