Plant condition of corn, winter wheat and soybeans deteriorates again in the US

The heavy rainfall in the US of late has prompted the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to undertake a further downward revision of plant quality.Corn and soybeans gained by 1.9% and 2.1% respectively yesterday.

The proportion of plants in good or excellent condition was reduced by 2 percentage points in each case to 71% for corn and 65% for soybeans. 

It is feared that the lower plant quality will later translate into lower crop yields. What is more, soybean planting made virtually no progress in the last reporting week and continues to lag behind the multi-year average.

In one week's time the USDA will be publishing its eagerly awaited acreage report. Wheat also rose in price: harvesting is making slower progress than usual in the US, particularly in Kansas, the most important wheat-growing state.

Furthermore, there are fears that the quality of the winter wheat crop could also be impaired by the rain. The higher US price also pulled the wheat price in Paris up with it. In addition, the European Commission's MARS forecasting unit lowered the average EU wheat yield that is expected, citing the dry conditions in key growing regions as its reason. 

The yield now looks set to fall almost 5% short of last year's figure.