Market News & Headlines >> March 1 Wheat Stocks Seen Lowest in 14 Years

The grain trade is expecting USDA to peg March 1 U.S. corn and soybean stocks above a year earlier and estimate March 1 wheat stocks at the lowest level in 14 years when the agency releases its latest quarterly Grain Stocks report on Thursday.

Trade estimates of March 1 U.S. corn stocks average 7.880 billion bushels in a range from 7.630-8.087 billion bushels, according to a Bloomberg News survey of 29 analysts. At the average of trade estimates, March 1 corn stocks would be a modest 2.4% larger than the year-earlier stocks of 7.696 billion bushels.

Pre-report expectations for March 1 soybean stocks average 1.908 billion bushels in a range from 1.750-1.965 billion bushels. At the average of trade estimates, March 1 stocks would be 22.2% larger than the year-earlier stocks of 1.562 billion bushels.

On average, the trade expects USDA to peg March 1 U.S. wheat stocks at 1.039 billion bushels, with estimates ranging from 998 million to 1.302 billion bushels. At the average of trade estimates, March 1 wheat ending stocks would be down 20.7% from the year-earlier stocks of 1.311 billion bushels and would be the lowest for the date since 2008, when stocks were just 709 million bushels.