Highest maize prices in two years on US shock data

摘要

Global maize prices continued rising this week, to reach their highest level in more than two years, following last week's announcement of a shortfall in supplies from the US. Chicago maize prices jumped 8.5% on Monday alone, the sharpest gain since 1973, after the USDA pegged supplies in the world's top exporter to shrink to their lowest level in 14 years. Citing late summer heat that reduced yields across the Corn Belt, the USDA on Friday cut its crop estimate by 4%, claiming that stockpiles wouldfall to less than a four-week supply by next autumn. The US maize crop is now pegged at 12.664 billion bushels, way below most analyst estimates and down 3.4% from last year. With high demand, the maize surplus will shrink to 902 million bushels by the end of this marketing year, the lowest level since 883m in 1996/97.