Ladywriter
August 17th, 2006, 09:47 AM
Posted on : Sat, 12 Aug 2006 10:08:00 GMT | Author : Darya Zarin
WASHINGTON - Analysts in United States have cautioned that unless corn planting is expanded drastically, the country could be facing corn shortage by as early as 2008.
Even as the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated the first forecast of the fall harvest of the corn crop to be at 10.98 billion bushels, which is the third biggest harvest ever, the amount of corn consumed by U.S. ethanol manufacturers, food makers and livestock feeders could well lead to the corn stockpiles being depleted within two years.
Mark McMinimy, analyst at Stanford Washington Research, said, "There's definitely need for more corn. Especially with the ethanol industry growing bigger and hungrier each year".
Analysts say that even if the Agriculture Department's prediction turns out to be right, it will only postpone the corn supply crisis by a year. They estimate that around 85 million acres of corn should be planted next year, as they would need an extra 800 million to 900 million bushels of corn in 2007.
As per the current consumption rates, analysts predict that stockpiles would go down by nearly 40 percent to 1.23 billion bushels by next fall. With the oil price increasing every week, motorists in US have been turning to ethanol, which is produced from renewable resources such as corn, sugar and soybeans. US ethanol consumes as much as 2.15 billion bushels of corn, which is about 18 percent of the total crop produced.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/8103.html
WASHINGTON - Analysts in United States have cautioned that unless corn planting is expanded drastically, the country could be facing corn shortage by as early as 2008.
Even as the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated the first forecast of the fall harvest of the corn crop to be at 10.98 billion bushels, which is the third biggest harvest ever, the amount of corn consumed by U.S. ethanol manufacturers, food makers and livestock feeders could well lead to the corn stockpiles being depleted within two years.
Mark McMinimy, analyst at Stanford Washington Research, said, "There's definitely need for more corn. Especially with the ethanol industry growing bigger and hungrier each year".
Analysts say that even if the Agriculture Department's prediction turns out to be right, it will only postpone the corn supply crisis by a year. They estimate that around 85 million acres of corn should be planted next year, as they would need an extra 800 million to 900 million bushels of corn in 2007.
As per the current consumption rates, analysts predict that stockpiles would go down by nearly 40 percent to 1.23 billion bushels by next fall. With the oil price increasing every week, motorists in US have been turning to ethanol, which is produced from renewable resources such as corn, sugar and soybeans. US ethanol consumes as much as 2.15 billion bushels of corn, which is about 18 percent of the total crop produced.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/8103.html