Corn and soybean prices jumped Tuesday after government forecasters cut their estimate of last year’s USA harvests and pared their outlook for soybean supplies.
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The state’s average corn yield was 159 bushels per acre, breaking the old record of 151 bushels per acre set in 2009, according to a USDA report issued today.
All cotton production is estimated at 12.9 million 480-pound bales, down less than 1 percent from the December forecast and down 21 percent from 2014. The average per-acre yield of 192 bushels also is a new record. Area harvested for grain is estimated at 80.7 million acres, up slightly from the November forecast but down 3 percent from the 2014 acreage. Corn exports are also raised for Argentina and Brazil for the 2014-’15 season there, further reducing prospects for 2015-’16 marketing year US corn exports.
Nationally, corn stocks reached 11.2 billion bushels as of December 1, up slightly from the same date the year prior and the biggest total ever for the period.
The Dec. 1 wheat stocks figure of 1.738 billion bushels was a five-year high and came in 40 million bushels above market expectations. Off-farm stocks, at 4.38 billion bushels, are up 6 percent from a year ago.
Corn used to produce ethanol is unchanged, but projected use for sweeteners is lowered 10 million bushels. Oklahoma seeded 4.9 million acres for an 8 percent drop in acres.
The projected range for the 2015-’16 season-average corn farm price is lowered 5 cents on each end to $3.30 to $3.90 per bushel reflecting weakness in export demand and recent declines in cash and futures prices.
Corn and soybeans continued to brush off a USDA announcement on Monday that USA soybean export sales rose to 368,000 tonnes from the last report of 246,000 tonnes and corn sales rose to 152,400 tonnes from the last report of 115,000.
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Domestic corn ending stocks for 2015/16 were surprisingly raised to 1.802 billion bushels from 1.785 billion bushels despite the smaller harvest view, due to a 50-million bushel cut to exports, an increase in imports and a decrease in usage by the food, seed and industrial sector.
