US corn crop might be greater than expected

The USDA announced in August’s supply and demand newsletter that US corn crop should be higher than expected.

Cereal production is expected to be 353.1m tons, while the market expected a significant reduction to 335.12m tons.

The yield was revised upwards to 177.31 bags per hectare, against the average expectation of 172.49 bags.

The planted area came to 36.42m acres and the harvested area to 33.18m. The expected average was 35.61m.

After the release of the data, some futures contracts of traded corn in the Chicago Exchange fell to the 25-cent low limit. On the other hand, the USDA reduced the 2019/20 soybean crop forecast to 3.68bn bushels, versus 3.845bn in the July forecast.

China decreases corn consumption

China’s Ministry of Agriculture said it was lowering its forecast for 2019/20 corn consumption amid outbreaks of African swine fever across the country.

The ministry said corn consumption is now 2m tons lower than last month’s forecast of 280m tons because the large drop in the pig herd was reducing demand for food.

China said its parent herd declined by a record 23.9% in May compared to the same month last year, but some estimate the number will be double that amount.

Sources: Reuters and Notícias Agrícolas

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