USDA Makes Surprise Cuts to Corn, Wheat Stockpiles Outlook

The U.S. government made surprise cuts to its outlook for global corn and wheat stockpiles amid signs of improving grain demand. The forecast for world corn stockpiles was smaller than the lowest prediction in a Bloomberg survey of 16 analysts, a U.S. Department of Agriculture report showed March 10. The agency also reduced its estimate of domestic reserves for both grains. Corn and wheat futures climbed on Wednesday. Smaller grain inventories can help to revive crop prices after surging world harvests drove the Bloomberg Agriculture Index down 27 percent in the past year. Improving demand for U.S. corn exports will erode American stockpiles, while global use of the grain in livestock feed will climb, the USDA said. “The overall conclusion is corn demand has been better than expected,” Bryce Knorr, a Chicago-based senior grain-market analyst at Farm Futures, said in a telephone interview. “Prices are cheap, and we have a growing livestock herd. The pace of exports is quite good, even if sales are a little slow.”...more