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.
Last week’s USDA World Supply and Demand Estimate made only minor changes to grain and protein fundamentals, but lack of fresh bad news was enough to send grain prices lower last week.
The USDA further reduced corn yield estimates from 123.4 bushels per acre to 122.8 bpa, but reductions to both projected exports and feed usage allowed the USDA to raise 2012-2013 corn ending stocks from 650 billion to 733 billion bushels. The USDA lowered its 2012-2013 corn price forecast from $8.20 to $7.90. Corn futures, which peaked at $8.31 on Aug. 21, closed last week at $7.78.
The USDA lowered its 2012-13 wheat forecast from $8.30 to $8.10 despite a 9-percent reduction in Russian output. The USDA increased 2012 beef output due to increased liquidation of both beef and dairy cows. Even so, the 2012 cattle forecast was raised slightly to $121/cwt, and 2013 remains unchanged at $127.
Contact John T. Barone at jbarone@mktvsn.com.
