CHICAGO, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) crop futures traded sharply lower in the trading week ending on March 29, mainly due to the March grain stocks and planting acreage reports which surprised the market.
The most active corn for May delivery was down 21.75 cents, or 5.75 percent weekly, to settle at 3.565 dollars per bushel. May wheat was down 8.25 cents, or 1.77 percent, to close at 4.5775 dollars. May soybeans were down 19.5 cents, or 2.16 percent, to settle at 8.8425 dollar per bushel.
Heavy rain and rapidly melting snow in March caused flooding that impacted many areas in the U.S. Midwest, with the farming states of Nebraska and Iowa hit hardest. Many farms in the Midwest have reportedly had full grain bins flooded from bursting rivers, which supported most of CBOT futures.
However, the latest quarterly grain stocks report, and planting acreage estimates, both released this week by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), offered some statistical surprises which sent bearish waves to crop markets.
The USDA pegged the domestic corn stocks as of March 1 at 8.60 billion bushels, compared with the average trade estimate of 8.335 billion bushels. Meanwhile, U.S. corn acreage this spring will be 92.792 million acres, versus the average trade projection of 91.332 million.
The combination of higher-than-expected stocks and seeding acreage dragged down corn prices by a rarely seen percentage of 4.68 in one day, said market analysts.
Also in the USDA March stocks report, the U.S. soybean stocks were pegged at 2.72 billion bushels, higher than the average trade estimate of 2.683 billion bushels. But soybean planting intentions were about 84.6 million acres, below the 86.17 million trade's estimate, and much lower than last year's 89.2 million acres.
Moreover, recent export sales to the world's top soybean buyer China and progress in the U.S.-China trade talks helped curb the fall of CBOT soybean futures.
The USDA on Friday confirmed new sales of 816,000 metric tons of soybeans by private exporters for delivery to China during the 2018/19 marketing year.
On Thursday and Friday, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin co-hosted the 8th round of China-U.S. high-level economic and trade consultations in Beijing.
Reports from the Chinese capital said the two sides discussed the related text of an agreement and achieved new progress.
According to the same USDA domestic stocks report, all wheat stocks as of March 1 totaled 1.59 billion bushels, up 6 percent from a year ago. However, prospective wheat plantings came out at 45.8 million acres, 4.3 percent lower than the previous year, thus limited the fall of CBOT wheat.
But a stronger dollar will make U.S. comodities less competitive, thus have a negative impact on the export sales of U.S. crops, said market analysts.
