WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S. — U.S. 2013 corn production was forecast at 13,988,720,000 bushels, up 145,400,000 bushels, or 1%, from 13,843,320,000 bushels forecast in September and up 30% from 10,780,296,000 bushels in 2012, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in its Nov. 8 Crop Production report. Soybean production was forecast at 3,257,746,000 bushels, up 108,580,000 bushels, or 3%, from 3,149,166,000 bushels forecast in September and up 7% from 3,033,581,000 bushels last year.

Because not all small grains were harvested prior to surveys for the Sept. 30 Small Grains 2013 Summary, the USDA issued revisions for 2013 wheat and oats production. 

All wheat production was estimated at 2,129,695,000 bushels, up 2,175,000 bushels from September but down 136,332,000 bushels, or 6%, from 2,266,027,000 bushels in 2012. Winter wheat production was unchanged at 1,534,253,000 bushels. Durum production was raised 385,000 bushels, or about 1%, to 61,913,000 bushels from 61,528,000 bushels in September but down 20,883,000 bushels, or 25%, from 82,796,000 bushels in 2012. Spring wheat other than durum was estimated at 533,529,000 bushels, up 1,790,000 bushels from 531,739,000 bushels in September but down 8,430,000 bushels, or about 2%, from 541,959,000 bushels in 2012.

Oats production in 2013 was estimated at 65,879,000 bushels, down 146,000 bushels from 66,025,000 bushels in September but up 1,855,000 bushels, or 3%, from 64,024,000 bushels in 2012.

The USDA corn number was below the average pre-report trade estimate of 14.022 billion bushels, while the soybean number was above the pre-report average of 3.225 billion bushels. If realized, corn production would be record high and soybean production would be the third largest on record, the USDA said.

The USDA did not issue its Crop Production report in October due to the partial federal government shutdown.

Based on Nov. 1 conditions, average corn yield was forecast at 160.4 bushels an acre, up 5.1 bushels from 155.3 bushels an acre forecast in September, up 37 bushels from 123.4 bushels an acre in 2012 and the highest average yield since 2009, the USDA said. Harvested area was forecast at 87,232,000 acres, down 2% from September and down slightly from 87,375,000 acres in 2012.

The average soybean yield was forecast at 43 bushels an acre, up 1.8 bushels from 41.2 bushels an acre forecast in September and up 3.2 bushels from 39.8 bushels an acre in 2012. Harvested area was forecast at 75,688,000 acres, down 1% from both September and from 76,164,000 acres in 2012.

U.S. 2013 rice production was forecast at 188,734,000 cwts, up 2% from 185,077,000 cwts forecast in September but down 5% from 199,479,000 cwts in 2012.

Sorghum outturn in 2013 was forecast at 415,570,000 bushels, up 5% from 396,105,000 bushels forecast in September and up 68% from 246,932,000 bushels in 2012.