The trade was surprised by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) acreage estimates last week. For corn and soybeans the totals were well below average expectations. 

Planted acres for this coming production year are predicted at 91.1 million on corn, 87.6 million on soybeans and 46.4 million on wheat. These acreage estimates compare to the 90.8 million on corn, 83.1 million soybean and 44.4 million wheat acres that were planted a year ago. 

The most attention remains on soybeans, as even if the United States has a trend yield of 50.8 bushels per acre, it is unlikely to produce a crop large enough to satisfy demand and allow for a build in reserves. 

Quarterly stock numbers were closer to trade estimates. As of March 1, the United States reportedly had 7.7 billion bushels of corn, 1.56 billion bushels of soybeans and 1.31 billion bushels of wheat in inventory. 

These totals were all down from March 2020, when inventory totaled 7.95 billion bushels on corn, 2.25 billion bushels of soybeans and 1.41...