USDA Grain Reports Summary

US Corn Acreage at 91.7 MA; Soy Acreage at 80 MA

USDA released its Acreage and quarterly Grain Stocks reports Friday. (Logo courtesy of USDA)

This article was originally posted at 11:02 a.m. CDT. It was last updated at 12:10 p.m. CDT

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OMAHA (DTN) -- USDA increased its corn planting estimate to 91.7 million acres from its June WASDE estimate of 89.8 ma. While the latest estimate is a 1.1-ma drop from the agency's March Prospective Plantings estimate, it is above the high end of pre-report estimates.

The agency expects farmers to sow 80 million acres to soybeans, a 4.6-ma decline from the agency's March estimates.

In July, USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will collect updated information on 2019 acres planted to corn, cotton, sorghum, and soybeans in 14 states, USDA said in a statement posted to the agency's website on Friday. (https://www.nass.usda.gov/…) If the newly collected data justify any changes, NASS will publish updated acreage estimates in the Crop Production report to be released at 11 a.m. CDT on Monday, Aug. 12, the agency said.

USDA's Acreage estimates on Friday are bearish for new-crop corn, bullish for new-crop soybeans and neutral for wheat, said DTN Lead Analyst Todd Hultman. USDA's June 1 Grain Stocks estimates were neutral for corn, soybeans and wheat, he said.

For DTN's exclusive audio comments on Friday's reports, visit: http://listen.aghost.net/…

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You can also access the full reports here:

-- Acreage and Grain Stocks: https://www.nass.usda.gov/…

ACREAGE

USDA said farmers will plant 91.7 million acres to corn in 2019, 1.1 ma less than its March estimate of 92.8 ma. Planted acres are up or unchanged in 40 of the 48 states USDA surveys. Area harvested for grain is forecast at 83.6 million acres.

"Farmers responding to the survey indicated that 83% of the intended corn acreage had been planted at the time of the interview, significantly lower than the 10-year average," USDA said in a summary at the back of the report.

Soybean acreage, at 80 ma, is significantly lower than USDA's forecast last spring of 84.6 ma. The average trade guess was that USDA would leave acreage unchanged, although estimates ranged from 83 ma to 86.5 ma.

Farmers planted 45.6 million acres to wheat, down from USDA's spring estimate of 45.8 ma. It's 5% lower than last year and the lowest since USDA began keeping records in 1919. All winter wheat acreage totaled 31.8 ma, with 22.7 ma of it hard red winter, 5.54 ma of soft red winter and 3.55 ma of white winter. USDA estimates 12.4 ma of spring wheat.

Cotton plantings were estimated at 13.7 million acres, down 3% from last year.

QUARTERLY GRAIN STOCKS

Soybean grain stocks in all positions set a record for June 1 at 1.79 billion bushels, up 47% compared to 1.2 billion bushels for the third quarter a year ago. On-farm stocks totaled 730 million bushels, up 94% from last year. Off-farm stocks were pegged at 1.06 billion bushels, up 26% from last year. All disappearance -- usage of the crop -- from March to May totaled 937 million bushels, up 5% from last year.

Corn grain stocks were pegged at 5.2 billion bushels on June 1, which is 2% lower than last year's corn stocks at the same period. On-farm stocks totaled 2.95 billion bushels, up 7% from last year. Off-farm stocks totaled 2.25 billion bushels, down 12% from last year. The March-to-May disappearance totaled 3.41 billion bushels, down from 3.29 billion bushels for the same quarter last year.

Wheat ending stocks for the 2018-19 crop year came in at 1.07 billion bushels, compared to 1.09 billion bushels for the same period last year. On-farm stocks are estimated at 207 million bushels, up 58% from a year ago. Off-farm stocks are pegged at 865 million bushels, down 11% from last year's storage. The March-to-May usage totaled 521 million bushels, up 31% from the same quarter last year.

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Join DTN Lead Analyst Todd Hultman at noon CDT Friday for DTN's post-report webinar where he will review USDA's estimates and answer questions. Sign up for Friday's webinar at: https://dtn.webex.com/…

QUARTERLY STOCKS (million bushels)
6/1/19 Avg High Low 3/1/19 6/1/18
Corn 5,202 5,308 5,497 5,099 8,605 5,305
Soybeans 1,790 1,856 1,962 1,700 2,716 1,219
Wheat 1,072 1,092 1,113 1,021 1,591 1,099
ACREAGE (million acres) USDA USDA
6/28/19 Average High Low 3/29/19 2018-19
Corn 91.70 87.03 88.80 84.30 92.80 89.13
Soybeans 80.00 84.59 86.50 83.00 84.60 89.20
Cotton 13.70 13.80
All Wheat 45.60 45.67 46.10 45.00 45.80 47.80
Winter 31.80 31.48 31.70 30.80 31.50 32.54
Spring 12.40 12.61 13.00 12.00 12.80 13.20
Durum 1.40 1.47 1.80 1.30 1.42 2.07

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