US corn ratings held steady, topping analysts' expectations, despite continued dry weather in southern areas of the Corn Belt, US Agriculture Department data released on Monday showed. USDA rated the corn crop 72 percent good to excellent as of June 3. The report did raise the percentage of the crop deemed excellent by 2 points and lowered the percentage rated good.
Analysts, on average, had been expecting good-to-excellent ratings of 71 percent, according to Reuters survey. From 2007-2011, corn ratings averaged 71 percent good to excellent in early June. USDA also said the soybean crop was rated 65 percent good to excellent in its first estimate of the year of soy conditions. That fell below expectations for 69 percent good to excellent.
The USDA's appraisal of the soybean crop was its lowest first soy rating since 2008, when the crop was pegged at 57 percent good to excellent. That year, final soybean yields fell 5 percent to a five-year low at harvest. The government has released its estimate of soybean conditions this early in the year only twice before. Soybeans were rated 75 percent good to excellent in early June 2010 and 71 percent good to excellent in early June 2007.
Rainy weather did provide crucial relief to key production states such as Iowa, Illinois and Nebraska, the three states that typically produce the biggest corn harvests. Some cool weather also helped ease the stress on crops. "Last week, some much needed rainfall provided relief from the hot and dry conditions of the previous weeks," the Illinois field office of USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service said in a statement. Many areas, still needed rainfall to foster development of the crops, which were seeded earlier than usual due to warm and dry conditions throughout much of the spring.
Comments
Comments are closed.