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Prices for the major U.S. export crops—corn, soybeans, and wheat—trended closely to one another over the past 4 years. From December 2014 to December 2018, the export price index for each crop fell. Prices for corn exports fell modestly, decreasing 6.7 percent during the period. Export prices decreased more for soybeans (16.1 percent) and wheat (17.5 percent).
Month | Export corn | Export soybeans | Export wheat |
---|---|---|---|
Dec 2014 |
100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
Jan 2015 |
101.1 | 100.7 | 93.3 |
Feb 2015 |
97.8 | 95.1 | 86.2 |
Mar 2015 |
98.9 | 97.6 | 84.6 |
Apr 2015 |
98.0 | 96.0 | 89.6 |
May 2015 |
94.8 | 96.2 | 77.2 |
Jun 2015 |
92.7 | 92.4 | 80.7 |
Jul 2015 |
105.0 | 100.9 | 86.4 |
Aug 2015 |
93.1 | 96.0 | 71.8 |
Sep 2015 |
91.1 | 87.7 | 70.5 |
Oct 2015 |
97.2 | 86.9 | 77.5 |
Nov 2015 |
96.3 | 85.4 | 76.3 |
Dec 2015 |
92.3 | 86.5 | 72.6 |
Jan 2016 |
89.0 | 84.1 | 70.2 |
Feb 2016 |
93.4 | 85.6 | 71.3 |
Mar 2016 |
88.5 | 82.0 | 68.7 |
Apr 2016 |
88.7 | 85.7 | 70.4 |
May 2016 |
95.2 | 95.8 | 70.0 |
Jun 2016 |
100.9 | 103.9 | 70.9 |
Jul 2016 |
91.4 | 107.7 | 64.1 |
Aug 2016 |
88.3 | 97.1 | 63.2 |
Sep 2016 |
84.5 | 95.1 | 61.6 |
Oct 2016 |
86.7 | 92.1 | 64.0 |
Nov 2016 |
88.0 | 92.7 | 65.1 |
Dec 2016 |
85.9 | 96.8 | 64.6 |
Jan 2017 |
89.7 | 94.6 | 66.3 |
Feb 2017 |
92.0 | 96.5 | 68.1 |
Mar 2017 |
94.3 | 96.3 | 70.3 |
Apr 2017 |
89.1 | 87.5 | 66.6 |
May 2017 |
89.3 | 89.9 | 68.5 |
Jun 2017 |
89.9 | 86.5 | 69.1 |
Jul 2017 |
90.6 | 91.3 | 85.1 |
Aug 2017 |
85.7 | 91.5 | 77.8 |
Sep 2017 |
82.2 | 90.8 | 72.5 |
Oct 2017 |
84.1 | 90.6 | 73.5 |
Nov 2017 |
85.0 | 90.7 | 74.0 |
Dec 2017 |
85.5 | 93.1 | 73.9 |
Jan 2018 |
87.2 | 90.2 | 74.7 |
Feb 2018 |
93.9 | 92.4 | 75.8 |
Mar 2018 |
97.1 | 100.0 | 81.9 |
Apr 2018 |
97.3 | 97.1 | 77.5 |
May 2018 |
101.7 | 98.9 | 85.3 |
Jun 2018 |
98.3 | 96.3 | 83.9 |
Jul 2018 |
89.3 | 82.2 | 77.5 |
Aug 2018 |
92.4 | 85.1 | 85.0 |
Sep 2018 |
90.4 | 77.7 | 79.4 |
Oct 2018 |
89.7 | 78.1 | 81.5 |
Nov 2018 |
91.6 | 80.7 | 81.8 |
Dec 2018 |
93.3 | 83.9 | 82.5 |
At certain times, export prices for the three crops shared even closer trends. From July to September 2015, corn export prices fell 13.3 percent, soybeans export prices fell 13.1 percent, and wheat export prices fell 18.5 percent. In the fourth quarter of 2018, export prices rose 3.2 percent for corn, 8.0 percent for soybeans, and 3.9 percent for wheat. Corn, soybean, and wheat prices trend together because they share supply and demand influences. These include weather effects, substitutability, biofuels demand, the value of the U.S. dollar, and the use of crude oil as an input to production.
These data are from the International Price program. To learn more, see "The relationship between crude oil prices and export prices of major agricultural commodities." We also have more charts about U.S. import and export prices. Import and export price changes may be revised in each of the 3 months after original publication.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, How do export prices for corn, soybeans, and wheat compare? at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2019/how-do-export-prices-for-corn-soybeans-and-wheat-compare.htm (visited November 14, 2024).