USDA Confirms January 11 Reports Delayed

USDA has confirmed expectations that the partial government shutdown continues to impact operations at the agency, including reports on the state of US agriculture. "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 December 22, 2018 and remain suspended," USDA said in a statement released today. "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 January 11, 2019 as originally scheduled even if funding is restored before that date." As for the eventual release, USDA said, "The date of all NASS and OCE-WAOB releases will be determined and made public once funding has been restored." Sources have signaled previously that it would take USDA analysts about one week to complete their analysis of the data to facilitate the release of the reports. USDA Chief Economist Rob Johansson told AgriTalk this week that USDA could potentially shorten the analysis time, including working over a weekend if it would speed release of the data.