USDA says farmers will plant less corn but expect to grow a record number of soybeans this year. A well-known markets man breaks down the prospective plantings report up next.
USDA?s National Agriculture Statistics Service released their prospective plantings report Friday morning. Corn planted acres is down four percent from a year ago at 90 million for 2017. Soybeans acreage is up seven percent at 89.5 million acres expected to be planted.
Don Roose is with U.S. Commodities in Des Moines. He says there?s a historical point to be made with this report
?We do have a tendency eight out of ten years on the corn to go up about 800 to almost 900,000 acres. We have a tendency on soybeans from the March to the June report to go up 7 out of 11 1.5 million. When you look at this report, the overall crops planted are down 2.3 million from a year ago. When you look at it, it is probably just a little bit low which gives these acres a chance to grow into the June report.?
Roose says there is a lot of negativeness dialed into all of the row crops.
?To the wheat market particularly. We?re very competitive in the world as well as a lot of negativeness dialed into the corn market and even on the soybeans. Even though we have bearish numbers, we?ve been talking negative numbers for quite some time now. I don?t think the market was hugely surprised maybe a slight surprise on soybeans. It?s a relief rally on corn and wheat today.?
Soybean planted area for 2017 is estimated at a record high 89.5 million acres, up 7 percent from last year. Compared with last year, planted acreage intentions are up or unchanged in 27 of the 31 estimating States.
All wheat planted area for 2017 is estimated at 46.1 million acres, down 8 percent from 2016. This represents the lowest total planted area for the United States since records began in 1919.
Corn stocks in all positions on March 1, 2017 totaled 8.62 billion bushels, up 10 percent from March 1, 2016. Of the total stocks, 4.91 billion bushels were stored on farms, up 13 percent from a year earlier. Off-farm stocks, at 3.71 billion bushels, are up 6 percent from a year ago.
Soybeans stored in all positions on March 1, 2017 totaled 1.73 billion bushels, up 13 percent from March 1, 2016. Soybean stocks stored on farms are estimated at 669 million bushels, down 8 percent from a year ago. Off-farm stocks, at 1.07 billion bushels, are up 33 percent from last March. Indicated disappearance for the December 2016 – February 2017 quarter totaled 1.16 billion bushels, down 2 percent from the same period a year earlier.
