USDA Report: Soy acres much higher than expected

This is a summary of today's eagerly awaited USDA 2008 planting intentions & March 1st stocks report:

corn acreage at 86.014 million vs avg trade guess of 87.387 million and 93.6 million in 2007,

soybean acreage at 74.793 million vs avg trade guess of 71.526 million and 63.631 million in 2007,

all wheat acreage at 63.803 million vs avg trade guess of 63.625 million and 60.433 in 2007.

March 1 stocks:

corn at 6.859 billion bushels vs avg trade guess of 7.076 billion bu.,

soybean stocks at 1.428 billion bushels vs avg trade guess of 1.352 billion bu.

wheat stocks at 710 million bushels vs avg trade guess of 668 million bushels.

The soybean acreage figure stands out as being more than half a million acres more than the highest trade estimate and more than three million above the average trade estimate.

The corn figure, whilst not below the lowest trade estimate is towards the lower end of what was expected.