US farmers will increase soyabean planting by less than expected this spring, and overall acreage of eight major crops is set to decline, the US Department of Agriculture said on Thursday in its first formal outlook for US crops. At its annual Agricultural Outlook conference, the USDA said plantings of the eight major US crops would dip 0.7 percent to 253.8 million acres in 2014/15, despite expectations that overall acreage would likely rise this year.
Cotton and rice plantings will rise, while corn, other feed grains and wheat will decline, as analysts have expected. Soyabean plantings were forecast at a record high 79.5 million acres, up almost 4 percent on the year. Many analysts are forecasting more than 80 million acres.
"While increased acres will have near term bearish effect, they were below expectations, and the market may be able to shrug off bearishness readily particularly on the front end," Sterling Smith, futures specialist at Citigroup, said in a note to clients. Corn acres are expected to fall 3.5 percent to 92 million acres, the lowest since 2011/12, the USDA said, pointing to a larger swing to soyabeans from corn than the USDA suggested last week in a separate set of long-term forecasts for US crops.
The USDA also forecast lower prices ahead for most major US crops as the impact of the severe 2012 drought continues to fade. "Prices for most row crops are expected to fall to the lowest levels since 2009/10," said Joseph Glauber, USDA's chief economist. "A return to normal yields ... could see soyabeans and corn set new production records."
Wheat, corn and soyabean prices have tumbled from the record highs seen in 2012/13, when a severe drought slashed production and pushed supplies to razor-thin levels. In Chicago, November soyabean futures were up 0.33 percent and December corn was flat, while December wheat slipped 0.6 percent. Cotton plantings were pegged at 11.5 million acres, up 10.5 percent on the year. That was about 2 percent higher than an industry survey released earlier this month. Rice plantings were forecast to rise by 16.5 percent to 2.9 million acres.
