In a special note, the USDA said changes to harvested area in states impacted by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma were not fully reflected in the September Crop Report because of when data were collected. The October Crop Production report will reflect those changes.
Based on Sept. 1 conditions, average corn yield in 2017 was forecast at 169.9 bushels an acre, up 0.4 bushel from August, down 4.7 bushels from 2016 and the third highest on record. Harvested area of corn was forecast at 83.5 million acres, unchanged from August but down 4 percent from last year.
If realized, soybean production would be a record high, topping the previous record of 4,307 million bushels in 2016. Corn production would be the third highest on record after last year’s record of 15,148 million bushels and 14,216 million bushels in 2014.
The USDA corn production and yield forecasts were above the average of trade expectations of 14,000 million bushels and 167.8 bushels an acre, respectively, and were above all individual pre-report trade forecasts except one. The USDA soybean production and yield forecasts were above all trade expectations, which averaged 4,321 million bushels and 48.7 bushels an acre, respectively.
Corn and soybean futures traded lower after the report.
