Annual Meeting Speaker Preview: Sue Martin

“Will demand continue to push grain/soy prices higher in 2011?”

Sue Martin will be the first of three featured speakers at the South Dakota Corn Growers 25^th Annual Meeting on Saturday, January 22 at the Sioux Falls Convention Center. Martin is the president and owner of Ag. & Investment Services bringing 38 years of experience in the brokerage business. Sue is an analyst for the University of Illinois radio Station, writes about ag market trends for AG Week newspaper and is a regular analyst on “Market to Market,” a syndicated TV program.

Martin will be speaking about corn and soybean markets, how demand will affect prices and how U.S. producers are affected by what’s happening in China.

The top things to take away from Martin include:

•Whatever happens in China has a growing impact on the U.S. If their prices fall, our prices fall. China will need to import our corn.

•The grain marketers have seen a healthy slide and there may be more to come. However, corn demand is likely to grow and the U.S. still has a crop that is in decline.

•Demand for distillers grains is good, and with crude oil prices in the $90-per-barrel range, ethanol should remain in demand.

•Beijing continues to take measures to make sure buyers are not stock piling grain. Corn supplies in North China and the Yellow/Huai River reaches are said to be growing quite slim.