USA: The rapid expansion of the ethanol industries in the U.S. have induced farmers to concentrate on corn crops

On March 30 the USDA published new crop planting intentions for 2007, about 2.7 Mill. HA more for all grains and oilseeds. The largest shift amongst field crops is between corn (maize) = plus 5 Mill. HA for a total of 36.6 Mill. HA, and soybeans = minus 3.4 Mill. HA for a total of 27.2 Mill. HA.

The rapid expansion of the ethanol industries in the U.S. and good price levels have induced farmers to concentrate on corn crops. The first reaction was a sharp down trend of prices, as these planting intentions surpassed all earlier estimates. It will be interesting to see, whether the larger supply or the larger demand will have the upper hand in the months before and after harvest. We doubt that it will have a great impact on barley markets.

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