By Karl Plume
CHICAGO, March 31 (Reuters) – U.S. farmers are aiming to expand plantings of corn, wheat and soybeans this year as tightening crop supplies amid the ongoing war in Ukraine underpinned prices, analysts said after the release of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prospective plantings report on Friday.
Growers plan to seed 91.996 million acres of corn in 2023, up from 88.579 million last year and the third most in a decade, and 87.505 million acres of soybeans, up from 87.450 million in 2022 and the third most on record, USDA data showed.
All wheat plantings were seen rising to 49.855 million acres, from 45.738 million in 2022, although analysts cautioned that harvested acres could be much lower due to drought in the southern Plains and overly wet spring wheat planting conditions in the northern Plains.
Global grain supplies have tightened to near decade lows following Russia’s invasion of major supplier Ukraine so larger crops in other breadbaskets such as the United States are needed to replenish stocks and temper food inflation.
USDA’s corn plantings forecast was above the average analyst estimate for 90.880 million acres while the soy seedings outlook fell short of the 88.242 million acres expected by analysts. Wheat seedings were above the consensus estimate of 48.852 million acres.
In a quarterly grain stocks report also issued on Friday, the agency said stocks of U.S. wheat as of March 1 thinned to 946 million bushels, the tightest in 15 years. Corn stocks fell to a nine-year low of 7.401 billion bushels while soybeans stocks dropped to 1.685 billion bushels, a two-year low.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected wheat stocks of 934 million bushels, corn stocks of 7.470 billion bushels and soybeans stocks totaling 1.742 billion bushels.
Benchmark Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) soybean futures Sv1 rallied to a near two-week high following the USDA report. Corn futures Cv1 were up 1.2% and CBOT wheat Wv1 dropped 0.5%.
(Reporting by Karl Plume in Chicago)
((karl.plume@thomsonreuters.com; +1 313 484 5285; Reuters Messaging: karl.plume.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
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