USDA reported a record large corn crop across the U.S. on Friday, with records also being recorded here in Indiana. Hoosier corn growers pushed over the 200 bushels per acre mark for the first time with a statewide average of 203. Indiana soybean growers pushed the record mark to 61 bushels per acre.
Nationally, the average yield was estimated at a record high 177.3 bushels per acre while soybean yield was estimated at 50.6 bushels per acre.
When those numbers were released at noon eastern time Friday, it was immediately bearish for the grain markets. Economist Brian Basting with Advanced Trading tells Hoosier Ag Today that these record crops harvested in the fall are a big change from the past three years, and they could have a big impact on future trade.
“If we look at the stocks to use ratio for corn now, for example, it’s 15%. And what I remind your listeners, each of those last three years, it was under 10%. So, we’re basically increasing the stocks to use ratio from under 10% to 15%, and the carryout is going from just over 1 billion bushels now to just over 2 billion bushels, nearly doubling.”
Speaking with us following the report on Friday, Basting provided his best marketing advice going forward.
“I strongly encourage your listeners to defend their balance sheets using some marketing tools because we’ve just got to respect what the market is telling us. Not saying it can’t go higher at some point, obviously it will reach a point where it’s a good value level, but we haven’t certainly found that yet today.”
Be sure to catch the Hoosier Ag Today podcast each and every weekday as we chat with a different market analyst each day for their insights.
