Corn quarterly stocks on the USDA report was considered bearish. The USDA said corn stocks as of March 1 were a record 8.89 billion bushels, up 3% from 8.62 billion last year. The market was expecting a large number, with early estimates coming in at 8.7 billion bushels. However, the market was quick to ignore those numbers as the excitement of the USDA report was acres.

    Soybean quarterly stocks were also higher than expectations with numbers pegged at 2.107 billion bushels, higher than the average estimate of 2.04 billion bushels. Yet, just like corn, the market participants quickly dismissed this news. Instead the focus was on the biggest shock of the report, smaller than expected soybean acres! 

    Growers will plant 89 million acres with soybeans this year, the USDA said in a report Thursday, down from 90.1 million last year and a February projection of 90 million acres. Corn area will total 88 million acres this year, down from 90.2 million in 2017 and last month’s forecast for 90 million acres. Analysts had expected soybean acres at 91 million and corn area at 89.4 million acres.  

    One thing to note, even though today’s soybean planted acreage number was a friendly surprise, it is important to point out this will be the first time in 35 years that U.S. farmers will plant more soybeans than corn.    

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Data Sources: USDA