April 13

4/13 - In Thursday’s WASDE report, the USDA made two COVID-19 related changes to its 2019/20 corn forecast. The USDA said that reduced demand for gasoline has hit ethanol makers hard. Projected corn usage for ethanol production was lowered by 6.9% to 5.05B bushels. Partly offsetting that decline is a big bump in corn demand to make alcoholic beverages. The net effect is a 10.6% increase in 2019/20 ending stocks to 2.09B bushels - and a $.20 drop in the USDA’s corn price forecast to $3.60/bu. Corn futures, which started the year at $3.91, closed at $3.31/bu on 4/9. Meat and poultry production/prices for 2020 were reduced on lower projected demand. The USDA cut its 2020 steer price forecast from $114.50 to $111.00/cwt; hogs from $48.00 to $40.00/cwt; broilers from $83.00 to $74.00/cwt. The 2020 egg price forecast was raised from $1.06 to $1.27 per dozen.