Ankeny, Iowa, USA
June 30, 2011

This morning the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its Annual Acreage report, the calculation of planted acres in U.S. farmland. The data, based on field surveys taken during early June, updates the USDA’s March estimates from its Prospective Plantings report.

Nationally, planted soybean acres are estimated at 75.2 million acres, down 3 percent from 77.4 million acres in 2010 and down from the March estimate of 76.6 million acres, while corn is estimated at 92.3 million acres, up 5 percent from 88.2 million acres last year and slightly higher than the March estimate of 92.2 million acres.

Iowa leads the nation in acres planted to soybeans with 9.2 million acres. That is down from 9.8 million acres in 2010, and lower than the 9.4 million projected in March. Iowa’s planted corn acres are estimated at 14.2 million, up from 13.4 million in 2009, and higher than the March projection of 13.9 million.

Meanwhile, the USDA Grain Stocks reported soybean stocks of 619 million bushels, up from 571 million bushels a year ago and 27 million bushels above the trade estimate.
Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) CEO Kirk Leeds is somewhat surprised at today’s report. “Certainly, parts of Iowa have shifted more to corn on corn, but the numbers are a bit higher than anticipated,” Leeds says. “Given the rain and flooding of the past weeks, harvested numbers may be a different story. There are still a lot of unknowns so the August report will be key.”

Regarding the stocks report, ISA Director of Market Development Grant Kimberley says, “With lower prices to follow short-term from this report, we expect new demand will be stimulated and stocks will likely tighten again, particularly given this week’s news of positive action in Washington on the pending free trade agreements. This report is a great opportunity for end users.”

Leeds adds, “It is not clear what final numbers of exports to China will be. They have certainly slowed down recently due to negative crush margins. However, most still expect China’s total imports to be at or slightly above last year.

“Long-term trends still indicate the need for more soybeans,” Leeds says. “Thus, ISA’s number one priority: increasing yield to meet global demand.”

Website: http://www.iasoybeans.com

Published: June 30, 2011