USDA sees corn acres, stocks above expectations; record soy seedings forecast

By Mark Weinraub

WASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) – U.S. farmers were seen cutting their corn plantings by less than expected in 2015 even as supplies ballooned to the highest since 1987, U.S. government data showed on Tuesday.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture in its closely watched prospective plantings report also predicted that farmers would devote a record 84.635 million acres of their fields to soybeans this spring. But the soybean seedings outlook fell below market forecasts.

For corn, plantings were forecast at 89.199 million acres, which would be a five-year low and down from the 90.597 million they seeded in 2014. Analysts were expecting corn plantings of 88.731 million acres, according to the average of estimates in a Reuters poll.

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The early market reaction was negative for corn and wheat futures and about neutral for soybeans. Corn and Chicago wheat fell three percent or more while soybeans were up slightly.

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Corn stocks as of March 1 were pegged at 7.745 billion bushels, the second highest reading ever for that time of year and 136 million bushels above the average of market forecasts. A year earlier, corn stocks were 7.008 billion.

“Grain stocks for corn are implying that feed use may not have been near the trade’s expectation in the past quarter,” said Rich Nelson, chief strategist at Allendale Inc. “That is quite surprising and a negative on corn.”

Slowing export demand also has weighed on the corn market following a bumper harvest in 2014 that replenished the supply base depleted by a crop-wasting drought 2 years earlier.

Soybean stocks on March 1 stood at a slightly smaller-than-expected 1.334 billion bu. compared to 994 million a year ago.

USDA said all-wheat plantings were expected to be 55.367 million acres. Winter wheat seedings were seen at 40.751 million acres, durum acreage at 1.647 million and other spring wheat plantings at 12.969 million acres.

Wheat stocks as of March 1 were 1.124 billion bu., 16 million bu. below the average of analysts’ forecasts. A year ago, wheat stocks were 1.057 billion.

Sorghum acreage was forecast at 7.9 million, 10.7 percent more than in 2014. Analysts had expected sorghum acres to rise to 8.129 million due to soaring demand from China.

Acreage	2015	Trade	2014
Corn	89.2	88.731	90.597
Soybeans	84.6	85.919	83.701
All Wheat	55.4	55.796	56.822
Spring Wheat	13.0	13.334	13.025
Durum	1.65	1.759	1.398