World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates was one of the most eagerly awaited reports of the year, and it lived up to its potential. The most-watched news concerned the corn crop.The U.S. Department of Agriculture raised its United States corn production estimate to a record 16.814 billion bushels, largely due to a 1.3 million-acre increase in harvested acres. The projected harvested area for corn was 90 million acres, which USDA said would be the highest harvested acreage since 1933. The planted area was forecast at 98.7 million acres, which would be the most since 1936.Corn production for 2025-26 was forecast at 16.8 billion bushels, up 72 million from last month as a 2.1-bushel reduction in yield to 186.7 bushels per acre was more than offset by a 1.3 million-acre increase in harvested area. The average U.S. corn yield was still up by 7.4 bushels compared to 2024. The National Agricultural Statistics Service forecasts recorded high yields in Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia, and Wisconsin. The acreage news drove markets down at first. But they rebounded as the export numbers began to sink in. Corn exports were increased by 100 million bushels to a record 3 billion bushels for the 2025-26 marketing year, while domestic use remained unchanged. According to Farm Progress, December corn plunged 8 cents in the seconds after the WASDE dropped, while November soybeans almost doubled that loss. Three minutes later, though, futures rebounded and were higher.
Many buyers took advantage of the low corn prices. CBOT December 2025 corn futures settled on Sept. 12 at $4.30 a bushel, up 10.25 cents on the day, and gaining 12 cents for the week.This month’s 2025-26 U.S. corn outlook was for greater supplies, larger exports and a slight reduction in ending stocks. Projected beginning stocks for 2025-26 were 20 million bushels higher than the last report, based on a lower use forecast for 2024-25, with reductions in imports and corn used for ethanol partially offset by an increase in exports.With rising supply more than offset by greater use, ending stocks are down 7 million bushels to 2.1 billion. The season-average corn price received by producers remained unchanged at $3.90 per bushel.
