On Monday, Jan. 7, the USDA announced that the suite of crop reports—some annual, some monthly, but most of them considered important for yearly benchmark—originally slated for release on Jan. 11 would be postponed due to the ongoing government shutdown.
“Due to a lapse in federal funding, work on National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and Office of the Chief Economist-World Agricultural Outlook Board (OCE-WAOB) reports have been suspended since Dec. 22, 2018 and remain suspended,” USDA said in a statement.
“Given the lead time required for the analysis and compilation of Crop Production, Crop Production-Annual, World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE), Grain Stocks, Rice Stocks, Winter Wheat and Canola Seedings, and Cotton Ginnings reports, those reports will not be released on Jan. 11, 2019 as originally scheduled even if funding is restored before that date.”
The USDA gave no indication in its announcement whether the delayed reports will be released late, assuming funding is restored and the government “reopens” soon.
