NCGA
Sees Positive Arena for Corn in Final ’03 USDA Estimates (1-13-04)
The National Corn Growers
Association (NCGA) notes 2003 corn production ended on a high note
with a revised price of $2.30 per bushel, a 10-cent increase. The
good news emerged from the January U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates for the 2003-04
crop year.
Issued Monday, the report
indicates a buoyant corn market and contains some important revisions
since November, including: reduced corn production by 164 million
bushels, increased corn usage by 155 million bushels, and reduced
ending stocks by 318 million bushels to 978 million bushels.
Gene Baumgardner, NCGA Production and Stewardship Action Team member
and Ohio corn grower said, “The current situation is a positive
thing for our market. It presents one more opportunity to get some
pricing done for the U.S. corn grower. As farmers, we need to take
advantage of these high prices when they come along and scale up our
sales. But we must also be careful not to get too euphoric. Just because
we’re seeing high corn prices doesn’t mean we’re
going to hurt the livestock sector.”
Despite broad bans on the
import of U.S. beef around the world, the USDA report anticipates
minimal impact from bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) on overall
U.S. meat production. The report predicts that U.S. demand for beef
will remain stable as beef prices come down. Meanwhile pork production
estimates are up while poultry remains stable.
In other positive news,
according to the U.S. Grains Council’s Jan. 9 Market Perspectives,
ethanol production reached 166,000 barrels per day in November, setting
an all-time monthly production record.
“It’s more
good market news that we’re still seeing good prices in the
ethanol end of things,” said Baumgardner. “With oil prices
being so high, we hope that the whole farm sector can be profitable.”
USDA Field Crops Section
Head Greg Thessen said this year’s corn numbers are positive
due largely to the drought that reduced last years crops, adding this
year the hot and dry weather hit at a time that didn’t impact
pollination. The end result was better yields over the previous year.
He also said harvest numbers were better this year because farmers
didn’t have to cut as much for silage or abandon as much as
they did last year.
To view the complete
WASDE and other reports visit the USDA Web site at http://www.usda.gov/oce/waob/wasde/wasde.htm.