Crop Market Update – Aug 16, 2013

Cereal Grains & Soybeans (by: Brian Williams)

Two bullish reports this week have helped boost prices for corn and soybeans. While many analysts were expecting an increase in corn production in this month’s World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE), USDA revised yields and production downward. In addition, the Farm Service Agency released their first estimate of planted acres on Thursday. According to FSA’s estimates, planted acres are at 88.5 million acres, about 600,000 acres less than the estimated harvested acres in the WASDE report. Soybean yields were revised downward in the August WASDE report, as were planted acres. Both were well below analysts’ expectations prior to the report. The FSA reported nearly 1.6 million prevented acres for the soybean crop and planted acres are estimated to be slightly over 72 million acres, well below the 76.4 million harvested acres in the WASDE report. There were no big surprises concerning the wheat crop. With much of the harvest in already, acreage remained unchanged in the WASDE report and the only revision was a 25 million bushel increase in exports.

Cotton (by: John Michael Riley)

Prices received a shot in the arm with the WASDE report. Yield was reduced along with harvested acres which pulled down total U.S. production. U.S. carry over was reduced to 2.8 million bales as a result. Globally, ending stocks were reduced by 570,000 bales which aided the rally. Prices stayed in positive territory most of the week in spite of sour news for equities and the general economy.

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