USDA Raises Corn Price, Ethanol Forecast

WASHINGTON, D.C.—USDA raised its 2008/09 season-average farm price for corn to a range of $3.90 to $4.30 per bushel, and its forecast for corn use in ethanol by 100 million bushels to 3.7 billion bushels in the marketing year that began in September 2008, reported Meatingplace.

The increases were based “on indications of improving blender incentives and higher ethanol use," the agency said in its World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimates report, also noting that blender margins have become increasingly favorable since late February as gasoline prices rose relative to ethanol prices.