WASHINGTON, June 11, 2014 – U.S. supplies of unsold wheat at the end of May 2015 will total 574 million bushels, up 34 million bushels from the month ago estimate, as exports and use in food and animal feed decline, USDA said today in a monthly report.
The production forecast was cut to 1.942 billion bushels, from 1.963 billion projected in May, USDA said, citing reduced prospects for Hard Red Winter wheat in the Southern and Central Plains and White Winter wheat in the Pacific Northwest. The previous year's total crop is seen at 2.13 billion bushels.
USDA held its estimate for the U.S. corn crop at a record 13.935 billion bushels, while laying the groundwork for possibly raising the forecast later in the season. In the report, USDA said crop conditions are the best in four years for the top 18 corn-producing states and “better than any time since 2007 for the Corn Belt.”
The department left unchanged its forecast for a soybean crop of 3.635 billion bushels. Last year’s crop was 3.289 billion. USDA also said its forecasts for rice supply and use were little changed from May.
In a separate report, USDA said Florida’s orange crop will total 104 million boxes (4.69 million tons), down 5 percent from the previous forecast and down 22 percent from last season’s final utilization. Florida’s crop has been hurt badly by a plant disease known as Citrus Greening. The U.S. all-orange forecast is 6.94 million tons, down 16 percent from last season.
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