Corn prices in 2018/19 are expected to improve — Rabobank

According to Rabobank's forecasts, corn prices in MY 2018/19 are expected to improve from recent lows, as global stocks decline for the second consecutive year, writes APK-Inform with the reference to Agrimoney.

''In our base case, Chicago corn prices are likely to spend considerably more time above USD 4.00 a bushel than during the 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons, as global stocks for 2018/19 fall 18%, towards 168m tons," the Bank's specialists comment.

US 2018/19 corn planted area is expected to decline by 0.5m acres year-on-year to 89.9m acres, as spring wheat acres compete strongly amid recent price relatives.

While still very early to be looking at 2018/19 South American corn figures, Rabobank forecasts a 200,000-hectare year-on-year decrease for Argentine corn harvested area, as reductions to soybean export taxes incentivise additional soybean area over corn.

Brazilian harvested area is forecast to increase 400,000 hectares year-on-year to 17.4m hectares.

Global 2018/19 corn balance sheets under the base case scenario would be delicately poised, and a major disruption to production in any of the major exporting regions could be the catalyst for a significant rally in prices, the specialists say.

Earlier it was reported that Ukraine in January-November 2017 exported 17.15m tons of corn for the amount of USD 2.66 billion.