Mar. 31 report not much of a shock

The data itself from Monday’s March 31 USDA Prospective Plantings report wasn’t much of a shock.

Corn acres came in actually a little bigger than expected, up 4.7 million acres from a year ago at 95.3.

“The trade was maybe looking for a 3.8 million-acre increase,” said Clayton Pope of Clayton Pope Commodities in Champaign.

Corn was trading 4-5 lower before the report Monday morning but turned around to move higher, a really nice rejection of the low.

The soybean number came out close to expectations, down 3.6 million acres with the average trade guess looking for a drop of 3.3. Soybeans were up 7-8 before dropping.

Wheat numbers were down 700,000 acres and the trade was looking for an increase by about 400,000 acres.

“That’s a little bullish for wheat,” Pope observed.

Chicago wheat was finally showing some strength, up nine cents.

When it comes to stocks information, quarterly stocks in all positions came in as expected, with the wheat number slightly bearish.

“The big news is the rejection of those lows in the corn and the fact that nobody seems to care the bean acres are down a little bit more than expected,” added Pope.

These acreage numbers will likely be used for supply and demand tables in May. It suggests a pretty big carryover in the new crop corn and a cut in the bean carryover for what we are looking at this year.

“We’ll see how long this market reaction lasts but that’s where we are right now,” notes Pope.