Analysts were expecting that 15 percent of corn seeding had been completed as of April 23, according to an average of estimates by 11 analysts polled on Monday. Estimates in the Reuters survey ranged from 12 percent to 19 percent.
The corn crop was 6 percent planted as of April 16, the USDA said in its last progress report. A year ago, corn planting was 30 percent finished.
The government is scheduled to release its next update at 3 p.m. CDT (2000 GMT) on Monday.
Analysts also were expecting the report to show that soybean planting was 2 percent complete, compared with 3 percent a year ago. The soy planting update will be the USDA's first of the year.
For wheat, spring wheat planting was expected to come in at 22 percent complete, up 9 percentage points from last week. A year ago, 42 percent of spring wheat acreage had been seeded.
Winter wheat ratings were seen rising 1 percentage point to 55 percent good to excellent.