Stocks in processing for peanuts has been released for the month of February.
That’s coming from USDA’s Ag Statistics Service. They said shelled animal use of peanuts is up slightly from last year after last month posting a four percent drop. The peanut stocks reported a commercial storage of about 532 billion pounds equivalent farmer stock, and that is up 34 percent.
So an excess pile of peanuts needs to be finding a market soon. Our market, our prices may not go up. Shelled peanut stocks totaled 673 million pounds, and that is up 32 percent.
So shelled stock and total amount of peanuts in storage is up about 30 percent. Commercial processors utilized 197 million pounds in the month of February, and that is up 4.7 percent compared to the same time last year. Peanut farmers are now getting ready to plant.
They say that acreage will already be down 14 percent. The market’s very quiet. No contracts are available at places now at the peanut buying points.
People are thinking about what they’re going to plant. The cotton market keeps spiking up, and farmers will have to decide if they’re going to go to cotton with a higher price or can they do it in peanuts.
Audio Reporting by Tyron Spearman for Southeast AgNet.