cwb office

CWB Office

The U.S. Department Of Agriculture will release its critical “Prospective Plantings” report this week, and the corn figure that accompanies it will more than likely have a significant impact on the markets one way or another.

The report will be released Friday.

CWB Market Analyst Andrew Wark said, “The U.S corn crop potentionally could be anywhere from 92-95 million acres. The USDA is going to release a report showing perspective plantings and if that's anywhere 94 million acres and above then thats going to be very very barest to the market. But if that comes in a little bit lower than that in the 92-93 range that could actually spur things up.”

According to the CWB's latest pool return outlook market commentary, wheat is still largely supported by current corn values, and any drop in corn prices will likely result in a drop in wheat values. Meanwhile global malting barley premiums have narrowed this month as falling malting barley values meet increasing feed barley prices.

If malting barley premiums continue to fall, it could put malting barley area at risk in Canada and Europe, as farmers may be reluctant to grow malting varieties.

That from CWB Market Analyst Andrew Wark, “We have seen over the last four months, these premiums have narrowed down significantly as the price of seed barley has increased and feed demand has switched from corn to barley over the last year. So now were at a stage here where premiums are getting down to a point where farmers may consider not growing malting barley varieties instead of feed barley varieties or instead of barley all together.”

Wark says if that turns out to be the case and there is a reduction in the production forecasts for those countries it could be potentially positive in the long run.