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 Friday’s monthly WASDE report, the USDA bumped its estimate for U.S. 2012-2013 corn ending stocks by 5 percent to 632 million bushels, mostly due to a 5.3-percent expected decline in corn exports. High prices for U.S. corn and an anticipated large Brazilian corn crop will cut into U.S. exports.
The USDA dropped its 2012-2013 corn forecast by a dime to $7.30 per bushel. Corn futures, which finished January at $7.40, closed at $7.09 on Friday.
For wheat, the USDA cut U.S. 2012-2013 ending stocks by 3.5 percent to 691 million bushels — mostly due to lower anticipated feed usage. Also, drought still threatens winter wheat, which may break dormancy this spring in an immediate soil moisture deficit. But wheat futures have not reacted to the news, closing at $7.56 on Friday.
The USDA left its forecast for cattle and hogs unchanged while raiding broilers from $93/cwt to $94/cwt, 8.5 percent above a year ago.
Contact John T. Barone at jbarone@mktvsn.com.