USDA Reports Will Be Released As Scheduled

The USDA announced earlier this week that the Perspective Plantings Report and Quarterly Grain Stocks Report will be released as scheduled on March 26, 2020. In addition the Quarterly Hog and Pig Report will be released March 26, 2020 as scheduled. The Perspective Plantings Report is one of the biggest market moving reports of the year!

The survey for the Perspective Plantings Report was done early in March. That is before the crash in crude oil and ethanol prices. Margins for the ethanol industry have dropped in the red by a huge amount resulting in a big drop in cash bids for corn. Some ethanol plants in the Midwest have or may soon shut down. The big drop in corn prices may encourage a drop in corn acres and increase in soybean acres.

The point is the Perspective Plantings Report will likely be outdated even before it is released? I made the prediction that if the acres are bearish the market will believe it as gospel. If it is bullish we will hear talk about it being outdated because the survey was done before the big drop in corn prices!