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consumption emphasizes the fact that farmers are likely to feed more 

 heavily. The demand for corn and other feed grains may therefore be 

 expected to be maintained throughout the coming months. In estimating 

 the price of soybeans, I used the relationship between the prices of 

 protein concentrates and corn. That made it necessary to make an 

 estimate of the probable price of corn, which I placed at about SO 

 cents a bushel, November to May average for No. 3 yellow corn at 

 Chicago. 



I should not expect the change in the method of determining 

 government loan rates on corn to have any serious effect on the prices 

 of corn in Illinois, In the eastern corn belt it will tend to raise 

 the loan price and in the western corn belt it will tend to lower the 

 loan price. That will have a tendency to encourage hog production in 

 the western corn belt, and so long as the feeding ratio is favorable to 

 hog production, it is unlikely that any abnormally large quantities of 

 corn from that region will flood the commercial corn market. This is 

 a very healthy development and will tend to restore the livestock 

 industry in the western part of the corn belt where the former loan 

 rate made it more profitable to seal the corn than to feed it. 

 deneral Commodity Prices . \ 



Long-time trend: Strongly upward. 



Intermediate trend: Steady to upv/ard. 



Short-time trend: Steady, 

 Domestic Demand Situation . Income payments up to the present 

 time have been increasing rather rapidly. However, there is some indi- 

 cation that the future trend will be less strongly upward. Because of 

 shortage of materials which forces the government to conserve available 

 supplies for use in the armament industry, other industries are finding 



