WASHINGTON, March 28 (Reuters) – U.S. corn inventories were larger than expected as of March 1, slightly easing a supply crunch, and a potentially record-setting crop will be planted in the next few weeks, the United States Department of Agriculture said on Thursday.
The news caused old crop corn futures to drop the 40 cent limit. Soybeans, wheat and canola also down.
In a pair of reports, the agriculture department said the corn stockpile halfway through the marketing year was eight percent larger than traders expected. Meanwhile corn plantings would be the largest since 1936 at 97.3 million acres, and roughly in line with expectations.
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Plantings of soybeans, were projected to be smaller than expected at 77.126 million acres – perhaps the only bullish surprise in Thursday’s highly anticipated reports.
Some 5.399 billion bushels of corn were in U.S. bins on March 1, down 10 percent from one year ago, according to USDA. The figure was well above even the highest estimate in a Reuters survey of traders and analysts.
USDA showed that corn disappearance for the Dec-Feb quarter fell 27 percent from a year ago.
Soybean stocks of 999 million bu. were seven percent larger than the average trade guess, and also topped even the most bearish forecast. Wheat stocks, at 1.234 billion bu., were five percent larger than expected.
Farmers intend to plant 97.282 million acres of corn, the most widely grown and most valuable crop, said USDA.
Plantings would be the highest since 1936, and assuming normal weather and yields would result in record-setting crop of 14.6 billion bu. according to Reuters calculations.
Soybean plantings of 77.126 million bu. would be down fractionally from last year and two percent below trade expectations. A record crop of 3.4 billion bu. is possible with normal weather and yields.
Wheat growers indicated sowings of 56.440 million acres, up three percent from last year and in line with expectations. Persistent drought in the central and southern Plains was expected to bring lower yields and a smaller crop than in 2012. A cold spell at the start of this week also may have damaged wheat in parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Colorado.
The wheat crop could total 2.1 billion bu., based on USDA projections of yields and abandonment.
Growers said they would plant 10 million acres of cotton, down 19 percent from last year but in line with expectations.
With a sugar surplus looming, farmers said they would reduce plantings of sugar beets by two percent. A month ago, however, USDA projected a nine percent drop in area because of low sugar prices.
