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Oats 1st Front Month  (ZO*1)

365-0s-5-2 (-1.42%) 8:05P EDT (CBOT)
Commodity Price Quote as of Saturday, May 25th, 2013 View Help

Contract Specifications

Symbol ZO
Name Oats (ZO)
Exchange CBOT
Trading Months March, May, July, September, December (H, K, N, U, Z)
Trading Unit 5,000 bushels
Tick Size 1/4 cent per bushel ($12.50 per contract)
Daily Limit 20 cents per bushel ($1,000 per contract)
Trading Hours 7:00p.m. - 7:45a.m. and 8:30a.m. - 1:15p.m. (Sun-Fri) CST
Last Trading Day The business day prior to the 15th calendar day of the contract month
Value of one futures unit $50
Value of one options unit $50

CRB Yearbook Description

Oats are seeds or grains of a genus of plants that thrive in cool, moist climates. There are about 25 species of oats that grow worldwide in the cooler temperate regions. The oldest known cultivated oats were found inside caves in Switzerland and are believed to be from the Bronze Age. Oats are usually sown in early spring and harvested in mid to late summer, but in southern regions of the northern hemisphere, they may be sown in the fall. Oats are used in many processed foods such as flour, livestock feed, and furfural, a chemical used as a solvent in various refining industries. The oat crop year begins in June and ends in May. Oat futures and options are traded on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT).

Prices - Oat prices on the CBOT weekly nearest futures chart in early 2011 extended the rally that started in mid-2010 and posted a new 3-year high of $4.25 per bushel in March 2011. However, oat prices then slowly sank during the remainder of the year to close 2011 down -21% at $3.09 per bushel.

Regarding cash prices, the average monthly price received by farmers for oats in the U.S. in the first eight months of the 2011-12 marketing year (June/May) rose +10.3% yr/yr to $2.31 per bushel.

Supply - World oat production in 2011-12 rose +18% yr/yr to 23.204 million metric tons, moderately above the record low of 19.625 million metric tons posted in 2010/11. World annual oat production in the past three decades has dropped very sharply from levels above 50 million metric tons in the early 1970s. The world's largest oat producers are the European Union with 34.5% of world production in 2011-12, Russia 23.0%, Canada with 12.9%, and Australia with 7.1%.

U.S. oat production in the 2011-12 marketing year fell -33.9% yr/yr to 53.649 million bushels, which is a new record low. U.S. oat production has fallen sharply from levels mostly above 1 billion bushels seen from the early 1900s into the early 1960s. U.S. farmers harvested only 939 million acres of oats in 2011-12, which was down -25.6% from the previous year and posted a new record low. That is down from the almost 40 million acres harvested back in the 1950s. The oat yield in 2011-12 fell -11.2% to 57.1 bushels per acre. Oat stocks in the U.S. as of September 2011 were down -33.0% yr/yr to a 79.391 million bushels. The largest U.S. oat-producing states in 2011 were the states of Wisconsin (with 13.3% of U.S. production), Minnesota (11.1%), North Dakota (8.2%), South Dakota (7.7%), Iowa (6.1%), and Pennsylvania (5.1%).

Demand - U.S. usage of oats in 2011-12 fell -4.5% yr/yr to 169.000 million bushels, a new record low. Regarding U.S. usage of oats in 2011-12, 53.2% was for feed and residual, 39.8% for food, alcohol and industrial, 5.2% for seed, and 1.8% for exports.

Trade - U.S. exports of oats remained unchanged at 3.0 million bushels in 2011-12. U.S. imports of oats in 2011-12 rose +8.4% yr/yr to 90.0 million bushels, below the 2007 record high of 123.29 million bushels.

Articles from the Commodity Research Bureau (CRB) Commodity Yearbook. The single most comprehensive source of commodity and futures market information available, the Yearbook is the book of record of the Commodity Research Bureau, which is, in turn, the organization of record for the commodity industry itself. Its sources - reports from governments, private industries, and trade and industrial associations - are authoritative, and its historical scope is second to none. Additional information can be found at www.crbyearbook.com.
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