US corn plantings in 2007 to be highest since 1944: agency

New York (Platts)--30Mar2007

Corn growers intend to plant 90.5 million acres of corn for all purposes
in 2007, up 15% from 2006 and 11% higher than 2005, the US Department of
Agriculture reported on Friday.

USDA said that, "If realized this would be the highest acreage since
1944, when 95.5 million acres were planted for all purposes." It said that the
expected acreage is up in nearly all states, with "high corn prices are
encouraging farmers to plant more acres to corn."

The growth in corn plantings appears to be directly linked to the growth
of ethanol use in the US.

The expansion of corn planting appears to be occurring at the expense of
soybean plantings. Soybean producers intend to plant 67.1 million acres in
2007, down 11% from last year. The agency said that, "If realized, this will
be the lowest planted area since 1996."

The agency forecast that in the so-called Corn Belt, Illinois farmers
intend to plant a record high 12.9 million acres of corn this spring, up 1.6
million acres from last year. North Dakota and Minnesota growers also expect
to plant record high corn acres, up 910,000 and 600,000 acres, respectively.

Realizing the corn planting forecast will depend greatly on weather
conditions over the next 45 days, analysts on a Chicago Board of Trade
conference call said in a conference call after the release of the USDA
report. Several analysts on the call noted that wet weather is now engulfing
the Midwest, with colder weather forecast for next week. The ultimate corn
yield will depend on meeting sufficient planting by around May 15, the
analysts said.

The total acreage for corn plantings suggests an ultimate total yield of
1.2 billion bushels, said the analysts.

--Robert DiNardo, robert_dinardo@platts.com