By Kirk Maltais
Corn planting in the U.S. is expected to drop from last year's near-record levels, according to the latest estimates from the Agriculture Department.
In its annual report released Thursday, the USDA projected planted acres of corn in the U.S. to hit 90 million acres this spring, down from 94.64 million acres planted by farmers last year. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal ahead of the report's release pegged planted corn acreage at 92.03 million acres, making the decrease reported more than expected by grain traders.
Wheat acres are also expected to be lower than projected by analysts. USDA projects planting at 47.5 million acres, slightly lower than expected by analysts and well below 49.58 million acres of wheat planted last year.
However, planting of soybeans is expected to be slightly higher than analyst estimates. USDA projects spring planting at 86.5 million acres, versus projections of 86.3 million acres by analysts. USDA said 83.6 million acres of soybeans were planted last year.
In its quarterly stocks report also released Thursday, USDA projected corn stocks as of March 1 at 8.35 billion bushels, soybeans at 1.85 billion bushels, and wheat at 1.09 billion bushels. Corn stocks are lower than analyst projections, while soybeans and wheat exceeded expectations.
In reaction to the reports, corn and wheat futures trading on the Chicago Board of Trade surged. Most-active corn is up 3.3%, while wheat is up 3%.
However, soybeans are down 0.2% following the release of the reports.
Write to Kirk Maltais at kirk.maltais@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
03-28-24 1247ET
