May 1, 2013
Heavy rain, snow to slow US corn plantings
US corn plantings have hit the slowest on record this week and will be further reduced brought about by heavy rainfall and snow across roughly the western two-thirds of the US Midwest and the eastern Plains.
"They certainly will not get much done this week. There is a big storm system starting Tuesday (Apr 23) that will spread in intensity and coverage by Thursday (Apr 25) and linger into the weekend," said Don Keeney, a meteorologist for MDA Weather Services.
Keeney said snow could be expected from Nebraska, eastern Colorado, Kansas into the northern Midwest with up to a foot of snow possible in western Iowa. "Elsewhere they will receive heavy rains of 2.0-3.0 inches or more," he said.
"The area affected is generally from Illinois westward and it will definitely put a halt to any additional planting," Keeney said. Drier weather is expected next week but temperatures will remain below normal, slowing seedings and slowing plant germination and growth.
Rain around the US Midwest kept farmers out of fields last week matching the slowest corn planting pace ever, government data released on Monday (Apr 29) showed. The weather also took a toll on the developing winter wheat crop, which deteriorated to its worst condition for this time of year in 17 years.
The USDA said cornplanting as of April 28, was 5% complete, just 1 percentage point ahead of where farmers were a week ago. The pace was the slowest since 1984, when farmers also had completed just 5% of their corn planting.
USDA''s weekly crop progress report showed the 5% corn planting completion pace as of Sunday was a huge drop from 49% during the same week a year ago and down sharply from the 31% five-year average seeding pace. Analysts had predicted corn planting to be 9% finished, according to the average of 13 estimates in a Reuters poll that ranged from 7-11%.
Prior to USDA''s planting report, corn traders on Monday had expected a slow planting place and bid Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) corn futures up their daily trading limit of US$0.40 per bushel or 6% higher for their biggest gain since July.
CBOT corn remained firm in early dealings on Tuesday with the new-crop December futures contract up US$0.02 per bushel or 0.36% at US$5.61-1/2 per bushel at 7:03 a.m. CDT (1203 GMT).