CHICAGO, April 23 (Reuters) - U.S. farmers east of the Mississippi River made good planting progress, while growers in western areas of the Corn Belt were slowed by rainy weather, a U.S. Agriculture Department report showed on Monday.
The USDA's weekly crop progress and conditions report showed that U.S. corn seeding was 28 percent completed as of April 22, up from 17 percent a week ago and ahead of the five-year average of 15 percent, but down from analysts expectations.
The planting pace was the third fastest ever for this time of year but the wet fields have pushed farmers behind the record pace they established in early April.
Soybean planting was a record 6 percent finished, up from 2 percent a year ago, ahead of the five-year average of 2 percent. That pace beat analysts' expectations.
USDA released a soybean planting estimate as early as the third week in April just once before, in 2007. The department calculated year-ago figures and the five-year average from data it collected but had not released before Monday.
Analysts expected corn planting at 31 percent, based on the average of 17 crop watchers surveyed in a Reuters poll, and had pegged soybean planting at 4 percent complete.
