US corn acreage seen to fall slightly

The US is expected to plant fewer acres of corn and wheat as demand from the ethanol and livestock industries and export markets slacks off.

Corn output is projected to reach over 12 billion bushels, while corn stocks will increase 1 percent from March 2008, said Bob Dickey, president of the National Corn Growers Association.

That would match last year's crop, despite a projected 1-percent drop in acres from a year ago to 85 million acres, as lower prices and unstable cost of fertilisers are discouraging some farmers from growing corn this year.

It would be the second successive yearly decrease, though total US acreage is still the third-largest in the last 60 years, behind the 2007 and 2008 crops, USDA said.

Farmers in major corn-producing states such as Iowa intend to plant a slightly larger crop this year.

Dickey said it is hoped that demand at all levels can be increased at some point in time.

Darin Newsom, senior analyst for Omaha, Nebraska-based DTN, said the decrease is at best ''neutral'' for a corn market that was expecting a significant decrease in acres, but that corn numbers could still drop further.

If poor weather persists in the Northern Plains and eastern corn belt, more farmers might end up switching corn acres to soy, which can be planted later, Newsom said.

All types of wheat plantings are expected to total 58.6 million acres, down 7 percent on-year. The USDA said wheat stocks on March 1 totalled slightly more than 1 billion bushels, up 46 percent on-year.