American farmers say they will seed more corn and soybeans this year, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture survey, but the increase is not as large as what analysts had expected.
The survey results would normally support grain futures, but the USDA also reported that stocks of corn and soybeans as of March 1 were larger than expected, which caused grain futures to fall, including the Winnipeg canola market.
Also weighing on grain prices are weather forecasts for a good start to seeding in the U.S. Midwest, which has led analysts to expect that farmers will seed more corn and soybeans than they told the USDA survey.
Based on interviews with farmers, the USDA estimated corn area will be 88.798 million acres, up three percent from 2009.
The average of analysts’ forecast was 89.189 million.
Soybean area in the report is 78.098 million acres, up one percent from last year. Analysts had predicted 78.458 million acres.
Given weak prices, farmers surprisingly said they would seed more spring wheat this year, at 13.906 million acres, up five percent from last year. Analysts had predicted 13.428 million acres.
Durum acres were seen at 2.223 million, down 13 percent from last year. Analysts had predicted 2.496 million acres.
Because of the 13 percent drop in winter wheat area, all wheat (winter, spring and durum) came in at 53.827 million acres, down nine percent from last year.
Oat acres were seen at 3.364 million, down four percent from last year. There was no analysts’ forecast.
As for March 1 stocks, corn and soybean stocks were higher than expected and wheat was slightly less than expected. However, this is still considered a burden.
After several years of decline, U.S. canola area was seen jumping almost 50 percent to 1.228 million acres, up from 827,000 last year.
At 10 a.m. CST, May canola was down $5.70 per tonne at $377.80. November was down $7 per tonne, at $383.
