The 2014 U.S. corn crop, while still a record high, is slightly below recent market expectations according to government data released on Monday, giving a small boost to beaten-down corn prices, while soybean production continues to rise.
The lift in corn prices came after the U.S. Agriculture Department said U.S. farmers collected a record 14.407 billion bushels of corn this autumn, down from last month’s forecast of 14.475 billion.
CBOT corn futures rose about 6 cents per bushel on the bullishly construed data. Soybean futures tried in vain to ride corn’s momentum but succumbed to profit-taking. Soybean and wheat prices continue to fall, meanwhile.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture trimmed its corn crop estimate to 14.407 billion bushels from 14.475 billion in October, and lowered ending stocks to 2.008 billion bushels from 2.081 billion. Traders had leaned toward higher estimates.
USDA’s fourth round of 2014 crop estimates mostly reflected fine tuning, though, with a hearty dose of harvested data to inform the agency’s estimates.

USDA estimated the U.S. soybean crop at a record 3.958 billion bushels, up less than 1 percent from October and trade forecasts averaging 3.967 billion. The crop is inching closer to the once unthought-of 4 billion-bushel mark.
Corn futures for December delivery gained 3 cents, or 0.8%, to $3.70 1/2 a bushel after the government released the report at noon Eastern Time on Monday. Prices for the grain have fallen roughly 15% this year after a 40% decline last year.
Soybean futures for November delivery fell 5 1/4 cents, or 0.5%, to $10.35 a bushel, amid an increase in projections for the size of the U.S. crop that came in at analysts’ expectations.
Projected 2014/15 U.S. soybean ending stocks were steady on the month at 450 million bushels.
USDA raised its export and crush forecasts by a combined 30 million bushels to absorb the larger crop, a potential boon to major grain processors and exporters.
U.S. corn yields recorded 173.4 bushels per acre, with 22 states expected to post new yield marks. Nov. 1 yield data shows the highest number of years on record for the 10 primary growing states, USDA said.
Soybeans also showed progress. Compared with final results for 2013, pod counts are up in eight of the 11 published states, USDA said. Fifteen states are heading toward record high soybean yields, including No. 1 producer Illinois.
Although unusually wet weather in parts of the eastern U.S. Midwest delayed harvest somewhat this year, farmers have likely collected more than three-fourths of the corn crop by now and 90% of the soybean crop, analysts said.
The USDA lowered its forecast for China’s 2014-15 corn crop by 3 million tonnes, to 214 million, but the shortfall was not expected to be a boon for imports, which were cut by 500,000 tonnes, to 2.5 million.
Globally, the government pegged wheat stockpiles for the 2013-14 season at 185.7 million metric tons, slightly higher than last month’s estimate of 185.6 million tons, while stockpiles the following year will reach 191.5 million metric tons, down from October’s forecast of 192.6 million tons. Analysts projected 191.7 million tons for the 2014-15 year