(Wall Street Journal) – U.S. growers will shift from corn to soybeans due to unseasonal rains and snow, a senior U.S. industry official said Friday.
“The time for planting corn is running out and the crop will lose acreage to soybeans,” John Lindblom, U.S. Soybean Export Council’s regional director for Southeast Asia, told Dow Jones Newswires ahead of an international grains conference in Bali early next week.
Most corn in the U.S. has to be planted by the end of May to ensure pollination before temperatures rise in summer and timely harvest before the winter frost sets in, he added.
Soybeans take less time to mature and can be planted even in July, Mr Lindblom said.
According to a U.S. government forecast, the country’s soybean output may rise 12.4% to 92.3 million metric tons mainly as yields are expected to be higher while the acreage is expected to remain nearly unchanged around 77 million acres in 2013.
Corn plantings are also forecast little changed at 97.3 million acres.
“It was snowing in states such as Minnesota and Minneapolis until a few weeks ago and its melting accompanied by rains means that there is too much moisture for corn to be planted,” Mr Lindblom said.
