USDA estimates soybean planted area for 2020-21 at 83.8 mil acres, up 10% on year

New Delhi — US soybean planted area for the 2020-21 crop year (April-March) is estimated at 83.8 million acres as of June 1, an increase of 0.3 million acres over March estimates and 10% higher year on year, according to the US Department of Agriculture's quarterly planting intentions report released June 30.

Last year, US soybean planting was impacted by extremely wet conditions in the major soybean producing region of the Midwest, which caused severe delays in field work and a huge loss in acreage.

According to the market participants weather has been extremely favorable for US soybean planting so far.

US farmers have finished planting soybeans for the 2020-2021 crop year through June 28, and 95% of the crop has emerged so far, which is up 6 percentage points on the year and 4 percentage points above the five-year average, according to another report released June 29 by the USDA.

However, the current US soy acreage estimate could slip a little on dry weather forecast in the coming weeks, especially in the Midwest, market sources said.

The USDA's soy acreage estimate was lower than the average market expectations of 84.7 million acres and the S&P Global Platts Analytics forecast of 84.5 million acres.

Compared with last year, planted acreage is up in 23 major producing states, the USDA said. Area for harvest, forecast at 83.0 million acres, is up 11% from 2019, it added.

If realized, this will be the third highest planted and harvested soybean acreage on record, the report said.

Illinois is expected to plant more soybean acres than any other state in 2020, with an estimated 10.3 million acres, the data showed. Other major states were Iowa with 9.3 million acres, Minnesota with 7.3 million acres, North Dakota with 5.9 million acres and Missouri with 5.5 million acres.

Of the 29 production states, 22 could see acres hold steady or increase from a year ago, the USDA said.