March 11, 2005

USDA raises corn forecasts

The US Department of Agriculture on Thursday again raised its forecast for 2004-05 corn ending stocks because of lower-than-expected exports.

In a move generally expected by analysts and traders, the USDA raised its forecast for corn ending stocks by 45 million bushels because of weak exports.

In its monthly supply and demand report released Thursday, the USDA raised its prediction for ending stocks to 2.055 billion bushels, up from the February forecast.

The USDA lowered its 2004-05 corn export forecast to 1.85 billion bushels, a 50-million-bushel drop from the 1.9-billion-bushel forecast a month ago.

The March forecast is the second consecutive month the USDA has lowered its corn export forecast by 50 million bushels.

In both March and February, the USDA said the export forecast decreases were made due to strong competition with countries such as Argentina.

Argentina, the USDA said in the report, is exporting more corn than expected. The new 2004-05 forecast is 14 million tonnes, up from the 13 million tonne forecast in February and 12.5-million tonne forecast in January.