Record corn, soya and cotton crops to sink prices: USDA

US farmers will reap huge crops that far exceed previous American records, the government said on Tuesday, forecasting a harvest of 11.613 billion bushels of corn, 3.11 billion bushels of soyabeans and 21.545 million bales of cotton.
A nearly perfect growing season, capped by a balmy September that warded off yield-cutting frosts in the Midwest, prompted the US Agriculture Department to sharply boost its earlier forecast of hefty crops.
Hurricanes cut the cotton crop in Georgia and Alabama during the past month but that damage was more than offset by growers in other states. However, Florida's orange crop, hit by four hurricanes this year, will plunge by 27 percent to 176 million boxes. Each box weighs 90 pounds (40.9 kgs).
The forecast of gargantuan crops will bring lower prices.
Private consultant John Schnittker foresaw "steady to weak" corn, wheat and soyabean prices well into the winter, when Australia, Brazil and Argentina harvest their crops.
Marty Foreman, analyst for Doane Agriculture Services in St. Louis, agreed huge crops will weigh on market prices for a long time. "I'm still trying to start breathing again after seeing these (USDA) numbers," he said.
USDA said the huge crops would mean a doubling in the US soyabean stockpile to 405 million bushels while the corn stockpile would rise by one-third, to 1.69 billion bushels.
Record yields will make the bin-busting crops a reality. The USDA estimated per-acre yields of 158.4 bushels of corn, 42.0 bushels of soyabeans and 782 pounds of cotton.
"Weather conditions have been mostly favourable throughout the growing season," the government said. High yields boosted the overall cotton crop by 600,000 bales during September, USDA said, even though hurricanes wiped out 350,000 bales in Georgia and Alabama.
Until now, the record US corn crop was 10.1 billion bushels, harvested last year, with a record yield of 142.2 bushels an acre. For soyabeans, the record was 2.89 billion bushels in 2001. The largest cotton crop was 20.3 million bales in 2001.
In metric measurement, the US crops would be 295 million tonnes of corn, 84.6 million tonnes of soyabeans and 58.9 million tonnes of wheat.