Special Report: Global Financial Crisis

    CHICAGO, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Grain futures in Chicago Board of Trade finished much higher on Tuesday due to the bullish planting area report released by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

    Corn future for May delivery gained 18.5 cents, closing at 4. 0475 U.S. dollars a bushel. May soybean rallied 47.5 cents to 9.52dollars per bushel and May wheat was up 20.25 cents, settled on 5.3275 dollars per bushel.

    The USDA released its planting area intention report on Tuesday, projecting U.S. soybean planting area at just 76.024 million acres, well bellow an average trade estimate of 79.6 million. Total area planted to all crops is projected to be down by a surprising 7.1 million acres.

    The Quarterly Grain Stocks Report was also considered supportive at 1.302 billion bushels versus trade expectations at 1.32 billion.

    The bullish acreage and quarterly data pushed soybean to rally in the session and had spillover effects on corn and wheat.

    Talks are scheduled to start between farmers and the government in Argentina on Tuesday, but little progress is expected.

    To traders' surprise, the Argentine government withdrew the soybean production estimate it released Monday citing it contained "errors." The estimate was 37-39 million tones, well below the USDA 's anticipation of 43 million tones.