In their January World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimate report, USDA trimmed final corn and soybean yields and adjusted planted acres lower.

Planted corn acres were reduced to 88 million acres however harvested corn acres were unchanged at 80.7 million acres.  Corn yield was reduced 0.9 bu/acre down to 168.4 bu/acre resulting in 53 million bushels less production.  Other changes to the balance sheet were:  10 million bushels increased imports, 10 million bushels less industrial use, and 50 million bushels fewer exports.  The bottom line is ending stocks increased by 17 million bushels up to 1.802 billion bushels.

Soybean harvested acres reduced by 600,000 acres and yield reduced by 0.3 bu/acre down to 48.0 bu/acre (still a record yield.)  This resulted in 51 million bushels less production with total production at 3.93 billion bushels which was just barely above 2014 production.  Exports were reduced by 25 million bushels.  Ending stocks were reduced 25 million bushels down to 440 million bushels.

December 1st stocks report was also released today showing both corn and soybeans stocks approximately 30 million bushels below the average of analyst’s expectations.  Seems the market was braced for a bearish report which allowed prices to work higher after the release.

The complete WASDE report is available here

The complete NASS Quarterly stocks report is available here

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