MMM 398

June 8, 2000

County-level loan rates have been set for the 2000-01 crops.  Table 1 lists the National and SC rates for eligible commodities.  Loan rates for corn, wheat, oats, and grain sorghum are uniform across all South Carolina counties.  The Barley loan rate is $1.40 in all counties except Charleston were it is $1.45.   Soybean loan rates may be $5.29, $5.34, $5.37 or $5.46 depending on the county.  However, a loan rate of $5.29 prevails in most major Soybean producing counties.  Upland Cotton loan rates are 53.30 cents per pound in non-mill area counties and 53.90 cents per pound in mill area counties.

Table 1.  National and SC loan rates for Crop Year 2000 Crops.

Source: USDA-FSA

These loan rates are an important component of the calculation of loan deficiency payments (LDP) that may be available for South Carolina production.  The LDP available on any given day (for all but cotton) is developed by adjusting two terminal market prices back to reflect South Carolina conditions.  The higher of the two adjusted prices becomes the “Posted County Price” (PCP) and is compared to the county loan rate.  If the PCP is less than the county loan rate, prices are deemed deficient and a LDP is available.  LDP’s available to producers change daily as terminal market prices and adjustments change.  As LDP’s change and are made available to us, we post them on the Web at: http://cherokee.agecon.clemson.edu/ldp_page.htm

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updated6 3/27/00