It looks like 2017 should be another great year to be a protein feed ingredient buyer if Mother Nature cooperates. While U.S. markets last year benefited from a drought in Brazil that affected the country’s corn and soybean production, this year’s projections are for record crops that will affect 2018 markets. Current projections call for a continued excess supply of both corn and soybeans.
There is a record corn and soybeans carry over from 2016, but the soybean carryover is already sold. Corn has been planted on 83.5 million acres, down 4 percent versus the previous year and a record 88.9 million soy acres have been planted, bringing this crop up 7 percent from 2016. Despite the differences in planted acres, the overall supply/demand projections are relatively unchanged from the previous year.