Checking on the peanut market, USDA’s Peanut Stocks and Processing Report has been released.
For the 10th month of the marketing year, they’re saying that commercial storage is holding 4.07 billion pounds of farmer stock peanuts. That compares to 2.54 last year billion pounds, and that is up 60% on last year, and that’s the reason the market is down. These warehouses are full, and we got a peanut crop in the field.
They’re going to have to be moved and processed so the new crop will have a storage spot. In May, shellers were involved in 461 million pounds. Their processing was up 27% compared to May of last year.
The good news is commercial processors utilize more peanuts this year, 218 million pounds for the month of May, and that is up 49% compared to last May. There was also some purchases made by the government. That is helping the situation with 1.9 million pounds of peanut butter going into the school lunch and the prison system, but that is still down 8.2% from the previous year.
Raw shell peanuts are up an amazing 6.3% for August through May, and that is good news as the supply is there for the market.
Audio Reporting by Tyron Spearman for Southeast AgNet.