WASHINGTON, MARCH 10, 2014 – U.S. soybean exports will reach a record 1.53 billion bushels (41.64 million metric tons) in the marketing year ending Aug. 31, up 20 million bushels from the month-ago forecast and up 16 percent from the previous year, reflecting strong sales and shipments through February, USDA said today in a monthly report.
The department reduced its projection for world ending stocks to 70.64 million metric tons, from 73.01 million forecast in February, as hot, dry weather cuts into the expected harvests in Brazil and Paraguay.
U.S. farmers can expect an average price of $12.95 for their soybeans at the farm gate, the USDA said, up from $12.70 projected in February. USDA left its U.S. soybean harvest forecast unchanged from February at a record 3.289 billion bushels. That would be a more than 8 percent increase from a year earlier.
Projected U.S. corn exports were also raised, to 1.625 billion bushels, from 1.6 billion in February and more than double the 731 million in shipments from the previous year. The corn crop, the country’s biggest, will total 13.925 billion bushels, the biggest ever, USDA said, holding its forecast steady from February. A crop of that size would be 30 percent bigger than last year’s drought-reduced harvest.
There was also no change in USDA’s forecast for the wheat crop in the year starting June 1. The department is projecting a total harvest of 2.13 billion bushels, down from 2.266 billion in the previous year.
The government reduced its forecast for oat imports to 85 million bushels, down 10 billion from the February projection, as “Canadian logistical problems reduced the availability of importable supplies.”
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