Estimates by the USDA for corn and soybean plantings on Wednesday missed analyst expectations, sending futures prices for both commodities up sharply, reports Reuters.
Analysts had been expecting the report to show that farmers planned to plant 93.208 million acres of corn and 89.996 million acres of soybeans, according to the average of estimates gathered in a Reuters poll.
According to the USDA's Prospective Plantings report, the nation's producers are set to plant 91.1 million corn acres and 87.6 million soybean acres.
- Corn Planted Acreage Up Less than 1% from 2020
- Soybean Acreage Up 5%
- All Wheat Acreage Up 5%
- All Cotton Acreage Down Less than 1%
Corn planted area for all purposes in 2021 is estimated at 91.1 million acres, up less than 1% or an increase of 325,000 acres from last year. Compared with last year, planted acreage is expected to be up or unchanged in 24 of the 48 estimating states.
Soybean planted area for 2021 is estimated at 87.6 million acres, up 5% from last year. Compared with last year, planted acreage is up or unchanged in 23 of the 29 estimating states.
All wheat planted area for 2021 is estimated at 46.4 million acres, up 5% from 2020. This represents the fourth lowest all wheat planted area since records began in 1919. The 2021 winter wheat planted area, at 33.1 million acres, is up 9% from last year and up 3% from the previous estimate. Of this total, about 23.2 million acres are Hard Red Winter, 6.42 million acres are Soft Red Winter, and 3.48 million acres are White Winter. Area expected to be planted to other spring wheat for 2021 is estimated at 11.7 million acres, down 4% from 2020. Of this total, about 10.9 million acres are Hard Red Spring wheat. Durum planted area for 2021 is expected to total 1.54 million acres, down 9% from the previous year.
All cotton planted area for 2021 is estimated at 12.0 million acres, down less than 1% from last year. Upland area is estimated at 11.9 million acres, up slightly from 2020. American Pima area is estimated at 142,000 acres, down 30% from 2020.
