Crop Production, WASDE Surprises Tempered By Pending Data Releases

Tuesday morning’s release of the Crop Production and World Ag Supply and Demand Estimates reports surprised markets with higher than expected harvested acres for corn and soybeans this fall.  USDA now says 87.1 million acres of corn will be harvested this year, a gain of 800,000 from August’s report, while the fall’s soy harvest will cover 82.8 million acres, 95,000 more than previously predicted.  That’ll result in a ten-percent larger haul for corn this year at 15.1 billion bushels, while the drop in soy production is now limited to three percent at 4.15 billion bushels.

While acreage saw a jump in this month’s report, commodity analyst Tom Leffler cautions that USDA has yet to discount acreage that won’t make it to harvest because of extreme drought.

Leffler also noted the lack of movement in the domestic wheat numbers, with a reminder of two significant reports coming up later this month.

The drop in world wheat production was fueled by a three-million ton cut to Australia’s production.  A 1.5 million ton rise in Ukraine’s production was off-set by losses of over one million tons each for Argentina, Canada, and the European Union.