The much-anticipated U.S. Department of Agriculture report released Monday sent the corn market careening limit-down after the USDA projected a far larger corn crop than had been anticipated.
Most market watchers expected the USDA to reduce corn acreage and crop yields after this spring’s wet conditions created poor planting conditions. Instead, the government agency shocked everyone by raising their forecast for the size of the U.S. corn crop to 13.9 billion bushels.
This news sent corn to three-month low, trading Friday for $3.75 per bushel.
Meanwhile, the USDA projected a much smaller soybean crop due to lowered planted acreage figures, which helped November soybean prices weather the report with only moderate losses, trading for $8.78 per bushel on Friday.