Market optimism despite corn glut now

KEMPTVILLE — Last fall’s record corn crop has glutted the market and there is nowhere in eastern Ontario to sell corn, says a local producer and director.

"CASCO (Cardinal plant) is not buying any more corn until July," says Don Kenny, an Ontario Corn Producers’ director from Stittsville. Quebec elevators are not buying corn and "the plant in Johnstown (Greenfield Ethanol) pulled its bids a week ago," the second week of January, he said.

The closest buyer for eastern Ontario corn is Port Colborne where Casco was paying $182 per tonne Friday, January 18. "If you haven’t forward contracted," Kenny says, you’re out of luck for now.

Some farmers still have acres of corn in the field and have decided to let the crop sit there and dry out.

Optimistic about the future of grain production in the province, Kenny says the glut in the system is only temporary, until some of the ethanol plants get fired up. Greenefield expects to be processing corn this year. Two other proposed ethanol plants — one in Napanee and in Oshawa — insist they will be operating as well. Kenny anticipates an acute shortage of storage for next fall’s crop.

He’s pleased with the prices but says the price has to go higher. The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food and Rural Affairs has estimated the cost of production is $4.08 per bushel. Corn in the mid-January market was selling for about $4.50 a bushel.

Kenny says input costs, especially fertilizer costs, have risen as fast, or faster, than the price of corn. Of greater concern are four years of disastrous prices. "We are still trying to recover our losses from previous years," he said.