Organic corn prices remain soft, but appear to be trading at current levels and have not dipped further. Merchandisers are telling The Jacobsen that mid-west prices are hovering near $6, with some old-crop corn getting slightly lower values picked up at the farm. New-crop seems to be holding and farmers seem unwilling to let organic corn go for lower prices. Organic corn in prices in eastern Canada is trading near $300 per metric ton next to Montreal and closer to $290 per metric ton as you move away from the port.

Organic Corn Chip Sales Remain Upward Trending

Organic chip sales remain robust and continue to trend higher. While the year over year figures for September have declined from the torrid 58% year over year increase seen in March, the 20% increase is nothing to sneeze at. For the 7-months ending September 2020, organic chip sales have increased 36% year over year according to The Jacobsen. Despite this solid performance, organic chip sales make up a small fraction of the organic corn consumed in the US, with the lion share used for feed.

The Beige Book on Agriculture

The Fed issued its Beige Book which is their assessment of the economy on Wednesday. The upshot is that the assessment is that activity is modest. Overall it was a mixed bag for the agricultural sector. In some areas, farm payments boosted farm income expectations, but activity is below pre-pandemic levels. The Atlantic Fed said that agricultural conditions remain weak. The Chicago Fed said that improved income expectations have eased the stress on agricultural borrowers. The Minneapolis Fed reported that low prices depressed the outlook for farm incomes. Farmers could get rescued by Chinese buying. China increased its purchases of corn and soybeans. For the week ended October. 15, the USDA reported net export sales for 2020-21 of 433,521 tons of corn.