USDA sees 2021-22 corn area at 92.7 mil acres, up 1.6 mil from previous estimate

The US Department of Agriculture updated its US corn planted area for 2021-22 marketing year (September-August) at 92.69 million acres, slightly higher from its previous estimates, it said in its annual acreage report on June 30.

The estimated planted area is 1.6 million acres higher than USDA's planting intention numbers at 91.1 million acres, but is lower than average market expectations of 93.8 million acres.

Platts Analytics estimated area under corn in the US in 2021-22 to be at 93 million acres. "The corn acreage numbers are pretty much what we expected, and this will most likely keep US corn prices supported at $5/bushel" said Pete Meyer, head of grains and oilseed analytics at Platts Analytics after the release of the USDA report.

The estimated planted acreage under corn in 2021-22 is 1.87 million acres higher than 2020-21, USDA said. The estimated harvested area is at 84.5 million acres, up 2 million acres from last year.

"Compared with last year, planted acreage is expected to be up or unchanged in 28 of the 48 estimating states," the report said.

The states with the largest corn planting acreage expected were Iowa, at 12.65 million acres, Illinois at 11 million acres, Nebraska at 9.4 million acres and Minnesota at 8 million acres.

Analysts expected a bigger increase in US corn acreage estimate for 2021-22 on the back of sharply higher grain prices that have prevailed the last few months along with continued high export demand.

The updated acreage numbers for the 2021-22 marketing year will provide a way forward for US corn supply and demand estimates.

Weather will also play an important role going forward, as the 2021-22 marketing year corn is in growing stages currently. The planting for 2021-22 corn in the US began in April-May, while harvest will start in September-October.

Corn futures reacted positively to the report. The most active September corn futures contract on the Chicago Board of Trade, which was trading at $6.79/bushel, down 15 cents five minutes before the release of the report, gained nearly 36 cents/bu in 15 minutes after the release of the report to trade at $7.3/bu.

The front month July contract also gained 39 cents/bu following the release of the report to trade at $5.99/bu.