July 15, 2011

US grains prices end higher on optimistic report

US grains prices posted strong gains on Wednesday (Jul 13) buoyed by the USDA July WASDE report.

US 2011-12 corn and wheat ending stocks came in below market expectations. US corn production in line with the 30 June Acreage report was revised higher as was consumption with a revision higher in both US corn exports and corn demand for ethanol offsetting weakness in feed demand.

Global corn production was revised 6.9 million tonnes higher from June's estimate to 872.4 million tonnes on higher US production. Global consumption was revised up by 5.9 million tonnes to 877.6 million tonnes on increased forecasts for US and Chinese corn demand. Global wheat production was revised lower by 1.9 million tonnes to 662 million tonnes primarily on lowered estimates to the Canadian crop while consumption was revised up on higher EU demand.

For soy the most notable change was a downward revision from last month to China's 2011 12 imports which were revised lower by 1.5 million tonnes to 56.5 million tonnes with lower crush while Chinese stocks were lowered by 1.6 million tonnes to 13.1 million tonnes their lowest in two years.

The USDA also reported 233,000 tonnes of 2011-12 US corn to unknown destinations and 110,000 tonnes to South Korea.