USDA projects big plantings, record US corn crop

WASHINGTON Feb 11 (Reuters) - Farmers will harvest a record 14.4 billion bushels of corn this year, the U.S. Agriculture Department projected on Monday, assuming mammoth sowings and a return to normal weather and yields.

Drought limited the 2012 U.S. corn crop to 10.780 billion bushels. The current record crop is 13.092 billion bushels in 2009.

Following are USDA's projections for production and use in the 2013/14 marketing year with comparisons to USDA estimates for 2011/12 and 2012/13. Ending stocks for 2012/13 are USDA February estimate; beginning stocks for 2013/14 are based on conditions in late 2012.

U.S. corn production and demand

Corn (Mln bu) 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

Plant (mln ac) 91.9 97.2 96.0

Harvest (mln ac) 84.0 87.4 88.3

Yield (bu/ac) 147.2 123.4 163.5

Begin stocks 1,128 989 647

Crop 12,360 10,780 14,435

Imports 29 100 25

Total supply 13,516 11,869 15,107

Feed, residual 4,548 4,450 5,250

Food, seed, ind'y 6,437 5,887 6,090

Ethanol 5,011 4,500 4,675

Total domestic use 10,985 10,337 11,340

Exports 1,543 900 1,700

Total use 12,527 11,237 13,040

End stocks 989 632 2,067

Avg farm price ($/bu) 6.22 7.25 5.40

USDA's projections are on the Internet at