Virus Fallout Clouds Outlook for World’s Largest Crop Traders
- Stay-at-home orders keeping people off roads hit ethanol usage
- Meat-plant closures sent soy crush margins to six-month low
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The coronavirus pandemic keeping cars off the roads and shutting down America’s meat plants is clouding the outlook for some of the world’s largest agricultural commodities traders.
That’s because the fallout of the deadly virus is creating a domino effect, hitting everything from corn to soybeans. With drivers off the roads, corn demand to make ethanol has plunged, while U.S. meat-plant shutdowns are forcing farmers to cull their animals, which erodes demand for feed inputs like soy.