The U.S. Department of Agriculture today (Wednesday) released its August World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE).
Department officials pegged the season?s first survey-based corn yield forecast at a record 181.8 bushels per acre and soybean production at 53.3 bushels per acre. Matt Bennett, founding partner of Ag Market Net, found these numbers to be fairly accurate.
?The corn yield came in close to what I was expecting,? Bennett says. ?The average trade guess was one-and-a-half bushels below the 181.8. We were one of the higher guesses, at 183.3, but felt we had good reason to believe it was going to be a large crop.?
?A soybean yield at 53.3, in all honesty, is in line or a shade below what I think the final yield will be,? Bennett says. ?Fifty-three-point-three coming out of the gate is a little surprising because usually they stair-step their way into these types of things. It?s a big yield, (and) nice to see a more accurate yield than what we typically see.?
Crop damages from Monday’s storm were not factored into this report. Producers can expect those damages to be reflected in the near future.
“When they say big crops get bigger, that’s typically the case. But if you’re going to extract millions of bushels of corn, it’s going to be tough for a big crop to get bigger. As far as the corn crop’s concerned, there’s no doubt it got hurt,” Bennett says.
Today’s report also featured increased exports for both corn and soybeans. Bennett says, “They made a good adjustment,” and expects to see future adjustments, due to a weaker dollar and global competitiveness.
?Bottomline is you?ve seen abnormally large exports compared to what we?ve seen the last several months,? Bennett says. ?China comes in and buys the most corn we?ve seen them buy. USDA says, ?I think this export situation is going to have to be adjusted higher,? and that?s what we saw happen today.?
