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Ag Beat – Crops Update

USDA chart show how drought hurt corn yield in US

Corn futures price for March are down to $ 6.90 per bushel from $8.40 per bushel – the record high price due to the drought this past summer. Yield fell dramatically on last years crop say USDA (see chart).

Demand based on price expectations is falling.As one analyst says “ outside speculators and their actions are what is driving the markets today and bringing lower commodity prices right now.
“Yes, those are the traders who want to get out now,”  Darin Newsom, senior analyst for Omaha, Neb.-based DTN.Newsom said. “There is supply and demand (impacts), yes, but it’s mainly commodity investors.”
Looking ahead farmers across the Western world are ready to plant more corn. Mansanto says they are selling more seed in South America.”While farmers across the U.S. corn belt suffered from poor yields last year because of drought, that has driven up prices for corn and soybeans, and along with it seed demand, in the U.S. and South America.” says one news story.
Record  high prices for corn reduced livestock herds,collapsed dairy profits and cut ethanol production in 2012 for the first time since 1996.
Avocado consumption and supply rise :Americans are eating more avocados these days, and the forecast for the coming year shows a good crop to help meet the demand. According to a report by the US Agriculture Department, the annual per-person consumption of avocados is about 4-and-a-half pounds, more than double the amount from just a decade ago. Initial estimates show that last year’s avocado supply from domestic and imported sources set a record at 1.5 billion pounds.
Mandarin crop could break record :California produces two-thirds of the US mandarin crop, and crop estimators forecast a record season for mandarin and tangerine growers. A government crop report says the total US mandarin and tangerine crop could be up nearly 8 percent from the previous year. Analysts attribute the increase to the maturation of a large number of mandarin and tangerine groves that have been planted in recent years and are now producing fruit.

Ag Giant Cargill Reports 2Q Net Income of $409 Million,Compared to $100 Million in 2Q 2011

Minneapolis based Cargill reported Jan. 9 net earnings of $409 million in the fiscal 2013 second quarter ended Nov. 30, compared with $100 million in the same period a year ago.In the first six months, earnings totaled $1.38 billion compared with $336 million in the prior year.The company is the largest privately held corporation in the United States in terms of revenue.[2] If it were a public company, it would rank, as of 2011, number 13 on the Fortune 500, behind AT&T Inc. and ahead of JP Morgan Chase.[3] Some of Cargill’s major businesses are trading, purchasing and distributing grain and other agricultural commodities, such as palm oil; trading in energy, steel and transport; the manufacture of livestock and feed; producing food ingredients such as starch and glucose syrup, vegetable oils and fats for application in processed foods and industrial use.
Cargill has a major meatpacking plant in Fresno and facilities in Fullerton, San Bernardino, Stockton and Los Angeles. A year ago the company was announcing large layoffs. Now its enjoying 4 times earnings.
CFB contributed to this article

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