December 1, 2009
 

US corn harvest slowly moving along

 

 

US corn harvesting slowly moves closer to completion, but 21 percent of the crop remains in the fields across the Midwest as of Sunday, the US Department of Agriculture said Monday (November 30) in its weekly crop progress report.

 

Wetness in the Midwest has delayed the corn harvests this year and raised worries about the potential for yield and quality problems. Meanwhile, the soy harvest is drawing to an end, while winter wheat emergence is dragging in late planted fields.

 

USDA said Monday it has decided to extend its crop monitoring activities by an extra week, pushing back the final report of the year until Dec. 7. Late harvesting is the reason for the extension, said Lance Honig, chief of the crops branch for USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service.

 

The US corn harvest was 79 percent complete as of Sunday, up from 68 percent a week ago but down from the average of 97 percent, the USDA said. The progress was in line with trade expectations.

 

The data reveals the harvest is slowly advancing toward completion, with showers across the central US last week allowing several states to only make minimal progress, said Shawn McCambridge, senior grains analyst with Prudential Bache in Chicago.

 

Harvest progress remains behind the average pace across virtually the entire Midwest crop belt. In Illinois, a key growing state, 72 percent of the crop was combined, below the average of 99 percent, according to the USDA. In Indiana, 84 percent of corn was harvested, below the average of 98 percent.

 

Harvest progress in Wisconsin has reached 67 percent complete, below the average of 95 percent, the USDA said. In Minnesota, 78 percent of the corn was harvested, below the average of 98 percent. In Iowa, 87 percent of the crop is harvested, down its five-year average of 97 percent.

 

The Dakotas are well behind their average pace, a reflection that many fields were just to wet to combine, McCambridge said.

 

"Corn harvesting in lagging, and the weather outlook for the eastern corn-belt makes crops in the region more vulnerable to quality problems," said Mario Balletto, analyst with Citigroup in Chicago.

   

US farmers have harvested 96 percent of their soy crops as of Sunday, up from 94percent last week and below the average of 98 percent, the USDA said.

 

The harvest progress did not provide anything exciting for the market to digest, just a reflection that the harvest is coming to an end, said Citigroup's Balletto.

 

The harvest is winding down in Iowa, where 99 percent of the crop was combined, and in Indiana, where 99percent was combined, the USDA said. In Illinois, soy was 96 percent harvested, below the average of 100percent.

 

In Missouri, 93 percent of soy was harvested, below the average of 95 percent, according to the USDA. The soy in Arkansas were 96 percent harvested, below the average of 98percent, and the Mississippi crop is 99percent complete, just off its average of 100percent.

 

US winter wheat was 89 percent emerged as of Sunday, up from 84 percent last week and below the average of 93 percent, according to the USDA. Last year at this time, 94percent of the crop had emerged.

 

Emergence is dragging in later planted Midwest soft red winter wheat states, where seedings were delayed by wetness and the slow soy harvest, McCambridge said. Many producers plant SRW wheat after soy.

 

"This lagging emergence could be a problem with snow in the forecast, or if we get into a colder weather pattern," McCambridge said.

 

The crop was 70 percent emerged in Illinois, below the average of 99percent, and 53percent emerged in Missouri, below the average of 88 percent, according to the USDA. In Ohio, the top SRW wheat-producing state, the crop was 95 percent emerged, below the average of 99percent.

 

Emergence in Kansas, the top hard red winter wheat-producing state, was 92 percent, below the average of 98 percent, the USDA said. In Oklahoma, the crop was 93 percent emerged, below the average of 95 percent.

 

HRW wheat is used to make bread and traded on the Kansas City Board of Trade. SRW wheat, used to make pastries and snack foods, is traded on the CBOT.

 

Planting made only minor progress last week. The crop was 96percent seeded as of Sunday, up from 93 percent a week earlier and below the average of 98percent.

 

The planting rate reflects a season that is winding down, said McCambridge. In southern areas there will continue to be some planting, but in north and central areas this reflects an end to the season, McCambridge said.

 

The planting percentage also points out that some soft red winter wheat won't get planted, he added.

 

The USDA dropped its good-to-excellent rating for winter wheat 1 percentage point from last week to 63 percent.

 

"The 63 percent reflects some struggles in the Midwest, as crops deal with cool, wet weather," McCambridge said.