U.S. grain bins and warehouses held the largest corn and soybean reserves in four years at the beginning of the fall harvest, said the Agriculture Department on Monday. The stockpiles were expected to grow larger still due to bumper crops this year that would keep the pressure on weakening commodity prices for months to come.
In a quarterly report, the USDA said corn and soybean stocks on Sept. 1 were 29 percent larger than the same point in 2023. There were 1.76 billion bushels of corn and 342 million bushels of soybeans in storage now, compared to 1.36 billion bushels of corn and 264 million bushels of soybeans at the start of September 2023. Sept. 1 is the dividing point between crop years and when spring-planted crops are mature.
Farmers harvested their largest-ever corn crop, 15.34 billion bushels, and the eighth-largest soybean crop, 4.17 billion bushels, in 2023 but usage did not keep pace, resulting in the largest season-ending stockpiles since the 2019 crops. Corn and soybeans are used in livestock rations, as ingredients in processed foods, and as feedstocks for biofuels and other industrial products.
While corn and soybean stocks were much larger than a year ago, the increases were not as large as trade expected. Corn prices rose on the futures markets, ending the day at $4.24-3/4 a bushel, up 6-3/4 cents. Soybean futures ended at $10.57 a bushel, down 8-3/4 cents.
This year, the USDA estimates the corn crop at 15.19 billion bushels, the second-largest on record, and soybeans at 459 billion bushels, the biggest ever. It also would be the first time for back-to-back 15 billion-bushel corn crops. This year’s corn and soybean crops were forecast to sell for a lower season-average prices than the 2023 crops.
The large U.S. crops would be part of record-setting grain and soybean production worldwide, according to forecasts by the International Grains Council. The IGC expects global grain stocks to fall to a 10-year low by the end of the 2024/25 marketing season as world demand grows.
But the USDA forecasts American stockpiles will grow in the face of booming domestic production and relatively steady exports. It says the corn stockpile will be 2.06 billion bushels, up 17 percent from Sept. 1, and the soybean stockpile will be 550 million bushels, the third-largest ever, when the 2025 crops are ready for harvest.
Also on Monday, the USDA said this year’s wheat crop totaled 1.97 billion bushels, the largest since 2016 and 9 percent larger than last year. Winter wheat, the dominant variety, also was up 9 percent, to 1.35 billion bushels.