Corn futures plunge after USDA forecasts record crop

[Closeup of a green cornfield with maize against blue sky]
franconiaphoto/iStock via Getty Images

U.S. corn futures plummeted to their lowest levels in a year Tuesday after the U.S. Department of Agriculture released its monthly WASDE report that showed projections for the U.S. corn crop more than 1B bushels higher than its July forecast.

USDA forecast corn production at 16.74B bushels, with an average yield of 188.8 bushels per acre, a harvest that "if realized would be the highest production for grain on record for the United States," the agency said in its report.

While planted corn acreage rose 2.1M acres from the previous month's report, soybean acreage declined by 2.5M acres, a shift that apparently fueled the record-high corn production.

Some traders and analysts questioned the accuracy [https://www.morningstar.com/news/dow-jones/202508128212/corn-futures-plummet-after-usda-forecasts-huge-crop-daily-grain-highlights] of the USDA's latest figures, Dow Jones reported.

"The corn number is ridiculous," Karl Setzer of Consus Ag Consulting said. "Anybody who has walked fields is not talking record production, mainly just the guys using satellite imagery."

Analysts said grain futures also may have been hurt by the lack of any new grain sales to China, even though President Trump recently called for China to quadruple its purchases of U.S. soybean exports.

On the CBOT Tuesday, corn (C_1:COM [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/C_1:COM]) for December delivery closed -3.3% to $3.94 1/2 per bushel, after falling by as much as 3.9% to $3.92, the lowest since August 29.

Also, wheat (W_1:COM [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/W_1:COM]) for September delivery finished -2% to $5.05 per bushel, but soybeans (S_1:COM [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/S_1:COM]) for November delivery settled +2.1% to $10.32 1/2 per bushel.

ETFs: (NYSEARCA:CORN [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/CORN]), (WEAT [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/WEAT]), (SOYB [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/SOYB]), (DBA [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/DBA]), (MOO [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/MOO])

MORE ON U.S. GRAINS

* CORN: The Only ETF Tracking The Volatile Corn Futures Market [https://seekingalpha.com/article/4805221-corn-only-etf-tracking-volatile-corn-futures-market]
* SOYB: A Gateway To Volatile Soybean Price Exposure [https://seekingalpha.com/article/4807986-soyb-a-gateway-to-volatile-soybean-price-exposure]