WASHINGTON – The US Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) in its annual Acreage report on June 28 estimated 2019 corn planted area at 91,700,000 acres, up 2.9 percent from 2018, down 1.2 percent from the March Prospective Plantings forecast and well above trade expectations that averaged about 87 million acres.

Corn futures tumbled after the release of the USDA report, which surprised traders expecting a much lower planted area estimate due to planting delays and prevented plant acres because of excessive spring moisture.

Soybean planted area was estimated at 80,040,000 acres, down 10 percent from 2018, down 5 percent from March intentions and the lowest since 2013 if realized.

Soybean futures moved modestly higher after the report, with the USDA estimate well below the trade average of about 84.5 million acres but gains limited by sharply lower corn futures.

Corn stocks in all positions on June 1 were estimated at 5,202 million bushels, down 1.9 percent from a year earlier, including 2,950 million bushels on farms, up 7 percent, and 2,253 million bushels off farms, down 12 percent, the USDA said in its June 28 Grain Stocks report.

June 1 soybean stocks were estimated at 1,790 million bushels, up 47 percent from last year, with on-farm stocks at 730 million bushels, up 94 percent, and off-farm stocks at 1,060 million bushels, up 26 percent.

The USDA corn, soybean and wheat stocks estimates all were below the average of trade expectations.