In this weekly Commodities Watch column, John T. Barone, president and commodities analyst for Market Vision Inc., offers a snapshot of the state of commodities for restaurants.
In last week’s World Agricultural Supply & Demand Estimate, the USDA left 2012/13 corn-crop yield and ending stocks both unchanged despite drought-like conditions throughout much of the Corn Belt. Most analysts at least expected a drop in the USDA’s very optimistic projected yield of 166 bushels per acre (bpa) to something closer to the 160 bpa range.
For the week ending June 10, the percentage of the corn crop rated “good to excellent” dropped from 72 percent to 66 percent, and a further decline is expected for last week. Meanwhile, corn futures that started the month at $5.51 have jumped to $6.01 over the past two weeks. But new-crop, forward futures contracts for September and December 2012 remain depressed in the $5.05 to $5.10 range, reflecting expectations for a record (or near-record) 2012/13 U.S. corn crop to eventually alleviate the current tight supply situation.
Contact John T. Barone at jbarone@mktvsn.com.
