May 24, 2022

USDA says corn planting in the US 72% complete, wheat ratings up

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said farmers in the US have planted 72% of their targeted corn acres as of Sunday, well ahead of the Reuters expert poll's average prediction of 68%, Reuters reported.

The USDA said on Monday that the corn planting progress had improved from 49% a week earlier but was still behind the five-year average of 79% for this time of year.

Reuters polled 13 analysts and found that pre-report trade forecasts varied from 63% to 74%.

The USDA said soybean planting was 50% complete by Sunday, up from 30% a week earlier. The percentage was higher than the average expert forecast of 49%, but lower than the five-year average of 55%.

Poor weather and abundant rainfall in the northern US Plains this month slowed spring wheat sowing. The USDA said spring wheat seeding was 49% complete, which was below the lowest expectation in a range of trade estimates and much under the five-year average of 83 percent.

The USDA assessed 28% of the winter wheat crop as good-to-excellent, up one percentage point from the previous week and in line with the average analysts predictions.

Despite the uptick, ratings for this time of year are still among the lowest on record. Only three other occasions in USDA data dating back to the late 1980s have winter wheat good-to-excellent ratings dipped below 30% during the 20th week of the calendar year: in 2014, 1996, and 1989.

Drought continues to affect two-thirds of the US winter wheat production region, according to the USDA, as the crop approaches maturity. In June and July, the majority of winter wheat will be harvested.

-      Reuters