CHICAGO: US futures prices for corn to be harvested this autumn plunged more than 5 percent on Friday to the lowest point in more than a year after the US Department of Agriculture said farmers have planted 2 million more acres of the crop than expected.
Favorable crop weather around the Midwest reassured investors that the fall harvest could be the largest ever, boosting US stocks to 2 billion bushels by the end of next season and replenishing 16-year low stocks this summer.
Soybean futures for autumn-delivered supplies slid nearly 2 percent on good crop weather and on spillover pressure from sinking corn, shrugging off a USDA plantings estimate that was 200 million acres below trade expectations.
Wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) slipped to a one-year low on harvest pressure, falling for a seventh straight session in the longest losing streak for the spot contract in 3-1/2 years.
"The corn number coming in higher than March intentions is a shocker here. Two million acres above expectations is considered bearish," said Joe Vaclavik, president of Standard Grain.
"We were a bit lighter on acreage in beans, and stocks came in a little below expectations," he said.
Based on a survey of 70,000 farmers, the USDA pegged corn plantings at 97.379 million acres, 2 million acres, or 2 percent, more than expected by analysts.
Soybean plantings were a record 77.728 million acres, up 1 percent from last year, but 200,000 acres lower than the average forecast.
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