Future Prices

[Bestoutwest]

I need a little help here. I've read/heard that corn prices dictate prices for all other commodities. Last year, I believe, corn futures/prices fell. I grow, and sell, hay and the price of that fell in the toilet. Anyone have any idea how this year is forecasted to go? I'm trying to figure out how I want to do a couple things and I'm looking for more info.

 

[Dave]

Our low hay prices have little to do with corn. The longshoreman slow down in the west coast ports halted hay export. That created a back log. Then the buyers found other hay sources and didn't come back. This created a bigger back log of hay. Take a drive through the Columbian Basin or down highway 97 in Oregon. There is hay stacked everywhere. Pick up a Capital Press, it is March, grass is almost here and there are a ton of hay ads. It is supply and demand. Demand has dropped and supply is way up. Thus the price drops.

 

[TexasBred]

I need a little help here. I've read/heard that corn prices dictate prices for all other commodities. Last year, I believe, corn futures/prices fell. I grow, and sell, hay and the price of that fell in the toilet. Anyone have any idea how this year is forecasted to go? I'm trying to figure out how I want to do a couple things and I'm looking for more info.

Not true at all. Corn will have some affect on other grains but soybeans and soybean meal price is usually dictated by price of soybean oil with some external effect from condition and prices in the overseas markets and exports. Same for most other oil seed products.

 

[Tim/South]

Hay pretty much stands alone and is difficult to compare to grain crops.
Hay is also harvested multiple times per season compared to just one harvest for beans or corn.

 

[Jalopy]

Probably not a direct correlation between corn and hay price.However when corn prices fall below cost of production, marginal land in the Midwest is converted back in to put hay in the rotation thus increasing our supply in the Midwest and lowering the value of hay per ton.