Food Price Index Drops and Record Corn Crop Not Brings Challenges
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with your Agribusiness Update.
**The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s Food Price Index averaged 124.3 points in December, down 0.8 points from November.
Declines in the prices for dairy, meat, and vegetable oils more than offset increases in cereals and sugar.
The index stood three points below its 2024 level and 22.4% below the peak reached in March 2022.
The 2025 index averaged 127.2 points, 5.2 points higher than the 2024 average.
**The USDA released its January WASDE Report, which projected a 17-billion-bushel corn supply in 2025-26, raising alarms among the nation’s corn growers and triggering an immediate market reaction.
If the projections prove accurate, this year’s crop will be the largest on record by far.
The surplus supply promises to keep corn prices low as farmers struggle to pay higher input costs.
**The USDA says inspections of corn, soybeans, and wheat for export all rose week to week during the seven days ending on January 8.
Corn inspections improved to 1.49 million metric tons from 1.32 million a week earlier.
Soybeans were reported at 1.53 million metric tons, up from just under a million the previous week and 1.36 million at the same time last year.
Wheat jumped to 317,400 metric tons, up from 183,000 the week before.
