March 13, 2006

USDA increases US corn export forecast by 50 million bushels

The US Department of Agriculture Friday raised its forecast for US corn exports by 50 million bushels and lowered its prediction for 2005/06 ending stocks by the same amount, according to the department's monthly supply and demand report.

The USDA said it raised the export increase "due to larger-than-expected US sales to Asian markets".

The forecast shift was generally expected by analysts who pointed to less competition with Chinese exports.

The USDA has now set its corn export forecast at 1.9 billion bushels, up from its February prediction of 1.85 billion bushels. At the same time, the USDA lowered its carryout forecast to 2.351 billion bushels, down from 2.401 billion bushelsa month ago.

China is now forecast to export 5 million metric tonnes of corn in 2005/06, according to the USDA report released Friday. That is a 1-million-tonne drop from USDA's February forecast of 6 million tonnes.