By Clint Thompson
Commodity prices for high value row crops hasn’t changed much recently, says Adam Rabinowitz, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Ag economist. The only positive is that prices have stopped decreasing.
“There really has been little change on anything. The downward movement at least appears to be subsiding. But we’re not seeing any upward movement. I think that’s where it’s going to take some time,” Rabinowitz said.
According to cotton futures, prices were listed at 58.75 cents per pound on Monday morning. This is a modest increase from 53 cents recorded just over a month ago. According to peanut prices last week, prices were listed as $424.13 per ton for Runner peanuts, $416.70 for Spanish peanuts, $430.94 for Valencia peanuts and $430.94 for Virginia peanuts. Corn prices remain at $3.19 per bushel, which is a huge drop from $3.77 at six months ago. Soybean prices are listed at $8.38 per bushel, which has decreased from $9.56 on Jan. 2.
Price Improvement Soon?
Rabinowitz is hopeful prices will improve once the global economy opens back up amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Unfortunately, there are concerns of the pandemic peaking again when temperatures drop.
“Things will change once the economy starts opening up, world markets opening up. The concern is if we have a relapse of closures come the wintertime again. That certainly raises concerns that we could have again a real hit to the economy,” Rabinowitz said. “That would be significant.”
Cotton farmers will be the last to benefit from the economy rebounding.
“When that discretionary income starts to decline, we do see products like clothing and especially if you think about like sports apparel and some of the things you might get at these large events that aren’t happening as well, all of that is contributing to the cotton market decline. That is certainly going to take some time to rebound,” Rabinowitz said. “The essentials — food, rent, mortgage payments — those are going to be the first priority. We’re obviously still a long ways to recovery on that side.”
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