Accelerated planting could improve productivity in the US, predicts hEDGEpoint Global Markets

Since the first weeks that US crop progress for the 2022/23 harvest began to be reported, the delay in planting corn and soybeans has become one of the main issues for grain and oilseed markets. This is mainly due to the possible negative impact on yields of planting outside the ideal window.

Although both crops still have a percentage of planted area below the average of the last five years, the last three weeks were marked by more accelerated planting, especially in corn, a segment in which the difference compared to the average planting rate is larger, indicates hEDGEpoint Global Markets in a report released this week.

In just two weeks, the corn planted area jumped from 14% to 72%, while in soybeans this jump went from 12% to 50%. In the case of oilseeds, which have a longer planting window, cultivation is no longer delayed when compared to the average of the last twelve years.

“Accelerating planting in May could improve corn productivity with the exception that the weather also needs to help and, at the moment, the forecast is not the best”, points out the Grains and Oilseeds analyst at hEDGEpoint, Alef Dias. “The delay in planting American crops is in the market spotlight, adding yet another bullish factor to grain markets,” he says.