Still Holding 2015 Corn? Thursday's Report Didn't Help

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Published on April 1 2016 10:22 am
Last Updated on April 1 2016 10:22 am
Written by Greg Sapp

Thursday’s planting projection of 93.6 million corn acres sent the market down more than fifteen cents per bushel at the day’s close. While soybeans saw significant gains during March, corn’s gains were much smaller, and Thursday’s losses more than eliminated any increase over the past month.

Adding to the problem is the amount of last year’s corn that remains in bins, with many farmers hoping to see better price before selling. A few extra cents would be helpful to pay for the inputs needs on the upcoming planting season. “The farmer over the last couple of weeks has been selling beans and continuing to hold corn,” said MIDCO’s Aaron Curtis after a marketing outlook in Fairbury. “We probably drove a few more bushels deeper into storage with this move we saw lower. Producers are going to want to continue to see better prices, but we’re going to have a 1.8 or 1.9 (billion bushel) carryout at the end of this marketing year, so either the elevator or the producer is going to be carrying that.

“We know that producers have a large share of old-crop corn,” Curtis continued. “At some point a producer’s going to have to make a decision on what to do with those bushels.”

The 93.6 million acre announcement was 2.6 million acres more than the highest analyst estimate, and it was 3.6 million acres more than the average of analysts’ estimates. 36 states had higher acres projected compared to 2015.