The USDA Prospective Plantings and Quarterly Grain Stocks reports are being viewed as largely neutral for the market, with most figures coming in close to expectations. Total Farm Marketing Senior Market Analyst Naomi Blohm says acreage estimates showed only minor deviations. “Not too many big surprises on it when you look at where the average estimate was in the range. Corn acres are pegged at 95.3 million acres. Now that was just a little bit higher than the average estimate of 94.3, but well within the range of expectation. On the soybean side, a little bit of the opposite, where the number came in at 84.7, which was a little bit below the average estimate of 85.5 (million acres), but well within the range of estimates.” Blohm says the grain stocks data also reinforced the idea of ample supplies. “In my opinion, there wasn’t anything in this report that was overly negative or overly positive.”
