USDA to Release November Crop Supply/Demand Report Despite Government Shutdown

By Karl Plume

CHICAGO, Oct. 31 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) said on Friday that it will release several key agriculture reports in November, including a monthly crop supply and demand report that was not issued in October due to the ongoing U.S. government shutdown.

NASS will release its crop production and world agricultural supply and demand estimates on November 14, according to a post on its website. The report had been scheduled for November 10, but it was unclear if it would be released since the government has remained largely shuttered since October 1.

The report will provide the government’s first estimate of U.S. corn and soybean production since September, when most of the Midwestern harvest was not yet underway. Posts by some farmers on social media sites have since suggested that USDA’s yield projection was much too high.

The USDA’s monthly cattle on feed report will be released on schedule on November 21, NASS said, after the October report was not released.

(Reporting by Karl Plume in Chicago, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)