Analysis: Bumper US corn harvest sinks prices, pushes global supply to surplus
MAPLE PARK, Illinois, Oct 19 (Reuters) – After a dry spring threatened to wither the U.S. corn crop in the fields, farmers are harvesting what will likely be the country’s third-largest crop ever.
A bumper harvest will strain storage capacity and hold down prices of the world’s most traded commodity crop. This will benefit customers who will pay less for corn used to feed livestock, dairy cows and egg-laying chickens or to make ethanol biofuel. But it will squeeze profits for farmers, who will store corn and hope for new demand from exports or new domestic uses.