Corn surged to a record approaching $8 a bushel, today.
Corn futures for July delivery rose 1.5 cents, or 0.2 percent, to settle at $7.87 on the Chicago Board of Trade. Earlier, the price reached a record $7.9975. The previous all-time high was $7.9925 in June 2008. This week, the price jumped 4.4 percent.
Corn is the biggest U.S. crop, valued at $66.7 billion in 2010.
There are a lot of supply factors impacting the price of corn, but this does not eliminate the fact that Fed money printing isn't helping the picture. The second half of 2011 could see major upside price shocks, at the consumer level, given the money printing the Fed has done to date. Commodities with additional supply problems will lead the way, but almost all commodities will climb in price.
While monetary policy is quite a consideration in attempting to evaluate the changes in the Corn price, on must never discount the governmental policies therewith; and, I cannot say that these policies are few.
ReplyDelete