I suspect that this information will ultimately prove wrong, but this is the news today. Grains were down across the board today.
March 31 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. wheat stockpiles were 30 percent higher on March 1 than a year earlier as exports fell, the Department of Agriculture said today in a report.
Inventories jumped to 1.352 billion bushels, the USDA said. Exports have declined as competitors including Russia increased shipments. Spring-wheat acres will rise 4.8 percent from a year earlier to 13.9 million, the USDA said in a separate report. Durum acres will fall 13 percent to 2.22 million.
“Our exports have been so poor we’re going to see big stocks,” said Louise Gartner, owner of Spectrum Commodities in Beavercreek, Ohio. “There’s been little farmer movement. As far as planting, there’s just not much money in it.”
The total area planted with wheat, including winter varieties, will fall 9 percent to53.8 million acres, the USDA said.
Through March 18, U.S wheat exports totaled 17.295 million metric tons in the marketing year that began June 1, down 21 percent from the previous year, according to the USDA.
Wheat futures for May delivery rose 7.25 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $4.72 a bushel yesterday on the Chicago Board of Trade. The most-active contract has fallen 13 percent in the first quarter of the year.
The U.S. and Canada are the world’s two biggest wheat exporters, followed by Russia.
Rice stockpiles as of March 1 totaled 10.2 billion pounds, up 11 percent from a year earlier, the USDA said. The area seeded with the grain may rise 8.8 percent to 3.41 million acres, the government said. The U.S. is the world’s fourth-biggest exporter of the grain, behind Thailand, Vietnam and Pakistan, USDA data show.
Rice futures for May delivery rose 20 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $12.575 per 100 pounds yesterday in Chicago. Futures have declined 16 percent this year.
--With assistance from Alan Bjerga in Washington. Editors: Daniel Enoch, Steve Stroth.
