Glacier FarmMedia – Corn acres in the United States exceeded trade expectations, while those for soybeans and wheat were slightly overestimated, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Prospective Plantings Report released on June 28.
The planted area for U.S. corn in 2024 was determined to be 91.5 million acres, greater than the March USDA estimate of 90.04 million as well as the trade’s average guess of 90.35 million. However, the figure was nowhere close to last year’s acreage total of 94.64 million. After the release of the report, corn prices at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) reacted bearishly with contracts losing more than 20 U.S. cents per bushel.
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Soybean acres in the U.S. were slightly lower than the trade’s guess, coming out as 86.1 million. The figure was 653,000 less than the trade’s average guess and 410,000 less that the USDA’s March estimate. In 2023-24, 83.6 million acres of soybeans were planted in the U.S. Soybean prices were slightly bullish at the CBOT after the report’s release.
Total U.S. wheat acres declined from both the USDA’s March estimate and the trade’s average pre-report estimate. In total, 47.2 million acres of wheat were seeded, down 457,000 from the average trade guess and down 298,000 from the USDA’s March estimate. Last year, 49.58 million wheat acres were seeded.
Winter wheat plantings were 33.81 million acres, down from the USDA’s March estimate of 34.14 million, the trade’s average estimate of 34.2 million and last year’s total of 36.7 million.
U.S. spring wheat acres totaled 11.27 million for 2024, down from the trade’s average estimate and the USDA’s March estimate, both at 11.34 million. In 2023, farmers planted 11.2 million acres.
Durum wheat acres were counted at 2.17 million acres, well above the two-million acre average trade guess and the 2.03 million acres estimated by the USDA in March. Last year, 1.68 million acres of U.S. durum were planted. U.S. wheat futures acted bearish following the report’s release.
U.S. grain stocks as of June 1 were higher than expected for all three major crops. The country had 4.993 billion bushels of corn on hand, 120 million above the average pre-report trade estimate and 890 million more than the year before.
Soybean stocks were 970 million bushels, eight million above the pre-report trade average and up 174 million from last year’s total.
Wheat stocks totaled 702 million bushels, up 18 million from the trade’s average guess and up 132 million from one year earlier. For durum wheat, the U.S. had 21.08 million bushels of supply, down from 27.75 million on June 1, 2023.
