Wheat Supply Rises, Price Falls

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) this morning released its monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report for November. The agency lifted its estimate on U.S. wheat stocks by 50 million bushels, due mainly to a sharp decline in exports. The new estimate for wheat pricing has dropped to $7.70 to $8.30 per bushel.

Wheat prices reacted quickly, dropping from nearly $8.50 a bushel to below $8.25 a bushel.

Crop shortages in Russia and Ukraine had been bolstering wheat prices, but higher production from China, Canada, and Australia is expected to add 1.6 million metric tons to global supplies.

The average price for corn was lowered to a range of $6.80 to $8.00 a bushel, and corn prices slid a bit to around $7.30 a bushel. Early harvesting in the U.S. has been keeping a lid on corn prices.

U.S. soybean production has been raised slightly, but the big news there was a jump of 600 million pounds in soybean exports to China and Mexico among other destinations. Soybean price expectations were also dropped to an average of $13.55 to $15.55 a bushel. The market price declined slightly on the forecast, to around $14.70 a bushel.

The December WASDE report is available here.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Agriculture, Food, Research