Corn
Corn prices have fallen to $3.64 per bushel this April, the lowest level since November. Prices have been dropping due to last year’s surplus corn crop and tepid foreign demand, which has led to a surplus stock of the grain. An additional 15-cent plunge in prices has occurred because of the traders focusing on this year’s crop, which is being planted ahead of schedule. Meanwhile, the mounting concerns about bird flu have encouraged even more selling in the corn market. The main factors, thus causing the price of corn to drop is an oversupply of corn combined with the recent outbreak of bird flu or avian influenza.
Dairy
Prices of skimmed milk powder have hit their lowest since 2009 but Danone, the French based water to infant formula group, stands by its expectations of a recovery in Chinese dairy imports leading to a recovery in milk prices eventually. The French-based water-to-infant formula group, the world’s largest yoghurt maker, said that its analysis continued to support a forecast it made earlier in 2015 of dairy prices recovering in the second half of the year. The expectation reflected ideas of a return to buying by Chinese importers, whose slower purchases since a stock-building spree early in 2014 have been seen as a major cause of the tumble in world dairy prices over the past year. Chinese dairy imports in February were down 36% year on year, led by a 49% slide in volumes of whole milk powder.

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