Corn prices expected to rise as USDA projects six-year low in year-end stocks

In Illinois, analysts are expecting corn prices to rise—making it that much more difficult for ethanol producers to make a profit—due to yield drops thanks to recent hot weather. In the USDA’s most recent estimates last week, it expects the year’s corn ending stocks to fall by 15% to a six-year low of 1.116 billion bushels.

Though ethanol prices have kept pace with rising corn prices in recent months, meaning good producers’ margins, the risk that that could change at any minute increases if the US crop continues to shrink or the Latin American crop experiences poor weather.

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