USDA forecasts record soy, bumper corn crops
Adds details, quote in paragraphs 4-13
By Heather Schlitz
Aug 12 (Reuters) -The U.S. Department of Agriculture raised its estimates for corn and soybean production from a month earlier on Monday, adding to expectations of hefty global supplies of both crops.
The agency raised its estimate for the 2024/25 soybean crop to a record 4.589 billion bushels, exceeding analysts' expectations and last month's forecast.
The USDA forecast a 2024/25 corn crop of 15.147 billion bushels, up from last month and the July estimate. The corn crop would be the third-biggest in U.S. history.
Soy futures continued to tumble after the report after hitting a four-year low earlier in the day as expectations for strong global supplies and lackluster demand for U.S. crops pressured prices.
"It's a monster revision for soybeans, and that's going to catch people off guard - which is why the market is reacting the way it is," said Jake Hanley, director at Teucrium Trading.
Large crop supplies and low prices are contributing to a rapid drop in U.S. farmer income this year.
Soybeans end stocks for 2024/25 were forecast at 560 million bushels, higher than the expected 465 million bushels and an increase from July's 435 million bushels.
August is the most important month for soybean crop development, and traders will closely monitor weather in the U.S. Midwest, which is so far expected to be largely beneficial.
The USDA forecast 86.3 million soybean acress will be harvested, above expectations of 85.11 million acres, as the impact of spring flooding was less than expected.
"Holy smokes," Tomm Pfitzenmaier, analyst at Summit Commodity Brokerage in Iowa, said. "Everybody and their brother thought the (soybean) harvested acres would go down, and they went up quite a bit relative to what the trade was expecting."
Meanwhile, corn futures rose after the USDA lowered corn ending stocks despite projecting a record crop.
U.S. 2024/25 corn end stocks were seen at 2.073 billion bushels, down from the agency's estimates in July of 2.097 billion bushels and lower than analyst expectations at 2.096 billion bushels.
The ending stocks would still be the largest in six years, however.
Reporting by Heather Schlitz; Additional reporting by Tom Polansek, Renee Hickman an PJ Huffstutter; editing by Jonathan Oatis
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