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The Rural Voice, 1998-01, Page 20STABLING MANUFACTURER We Build On Our Reputation • Constructed from 109 wall tubing • 6 or 6.5 ft. stalls available • Special lengths available on order Vandepas Welding R.R. 2 Kenilworth, ON 519-848-6537 Call for the dealer nearest you. COMM CONSTRUCTION LTD. We do it all - design, engineer & build Whatever your Building Needs - Big or Small You Know Domm Well Who to Call! Agricultural Residential Commercial IDEAS DOMM WELL BUILT AYTON 519-665-7848 16 THE RURAL VOICE Grain Markets Falling dollar affects basis levels Now that harvest is virtually complete in North America, reality seems to be setting in. Futures prices have slipped lower as the size of both the corn and soybean crops are confirmed, coupled with lower corn exports and good weather in South America. The spec funds that have been long corn and soybean futures have managed to exit their positions without doing much damage. They are now in a position to move the market sharply one way or the other. The USDA updated the supply/demand reports on December 11 with very little change, so we'll have to wait until the January reports to get the final production figures and we may see a drop in projected corn exports at that time. The effect of currency devaluation in the Pacific Rim is just starting to be felt in North America and in most importing countries, corn and soybeans are too expensive for the locals to import. CORN The USDA made only slight changes to the supply/demand report by reducing usage and increasing carryover by 25 million bushels. However, this was expected. Their report in January should contain more changes, especially to the export picture. Private traders think U.S. exports could be as low as 1.75 billion bushels with carryover in September '98 approaching 1.2 or 1.3 billion bushels depending on domestic consumption. In Ontario, harvest is pretty well complete and although the crop is