In one of its final looks at this year’s wheat crop, the USDA said the harvest totaled 2.052 billion bushels, 4-percent smaller than its previous estimate. Output was down for winter and spring wheat from the earlier estimate while durum wheat was up slightly, according to the annual Small Grains report. Due in part to the smaller harvest, the U.S. wheat stockpile is slightly smaller than traders expected. All the same, wheat stocks are 10-percent larger than a year ago and the season-average price for this year’s crop is forecast to be the lowest in six years.
The USDA says its quarterly survey of farmers and warehouses showed there were 191 million bushels of soybeans in storage when the fall harvest began, a smaller carry-over than traders expected and smaller than the department estimated in early September. All the same, soybean stocks as of Sept. 1 were twice as big as a year ago, and they are forecast to more than double again by next Sept. 1 as a result of two mammoth crops in a row. This year’s crop is forecast for 3.935 billion bushels – just big enough to set the record. As part of the Grain Stocks report, the USDA shaved 42 million bushels from the 2014 soybean crop, so it is now pegged at 3.927 billion bushels.