U.S. wheat exports are slowing due to high prices and rising global production, said the Agriculture Department on Thursday. “U.S. export prices are expected to remain elevated [for] the rest of 2021/22, further diminishing U.S. competitiveness,” said the USDA’s monthly WASDE report, forecasting the smallest wheat export total, 840 million bushels, in seven years.
Australia will harvest a record wheat crop of 34 million tonnes, thanks to abundant rainfall and near-record yields, said the USDA. It would be the country’s second bumper crop in a row after drought savaged the 2019/20 crop. Like the United States, Australia is one of the world’s major wheat exporters. Its harvest season runs from November into January. The USDA also raised its forecasts of the wheat crops in Russia and Canada.
This year’s U.S. wheat crop will sell for an average of $7.05 a bushel, 15 cents above last month’s estimate and the highest farm gate price since the 2012/13 marketing year, said the USDA. While the slowdown in exports will mean a larger U.S. wheat stockpile, carry-over stocks of 598 million bushels at the end of this marketing year would be 29 percent smaller than at the start.