Corn and soybeans: Very long year with disappointing prices in Italy

It has been several years since the corn and soybean harvesting operations in Italy have lasted this long. Due to a particularly cold and rainy September, it was not possible to thresh the crops in the “normal” times, and in the Po Valley the harvest continued until a few days ago. Among the consequences of this delay, in addition to the obvious quality problems that have affected soybeans in particular (with blackened or even advanced rotting grains), there is also the objective difficulty in realistically measuring the actual consistency of the harvests, so much so that at the moment Istat has published numbers that are all too similar to last year (table 1). As regards soybeans, the first price surveys were made in mid-October, with a debut at 433.50 euros/t in Milan and 439.50 euros/t in Bologna. In the following weeks, slight increases were recorded, only to consolidate last week at 436.50 euros/t on both markets. If we consider that sunflower seeds were quoted, between ...