USDA Reports Flash

New-Crop Corn, Soybean Forecasts Released

USDA released its latest Crop Production and World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) reports Thursday. (Logo courtesy of USDA)

WASHINGTON (DTN) -- One of the first looks at the 2018-19 crop production projects the U.S. corn crop at 14.04 billion bushels with an average yield of 174 bushels per acre.

The May World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) offers the first forecasts for crop production and ending stocks for the 2018-19 marketing year.

Soybean production is projected at 4.28 billion bushels with an average yield of 48.5 bushels an acre.

For DTN's exclusive audio comments on today's reports, visit: http://listen.aghost.net/…

Crop Production: https://www.nass.usda.gov/…

World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE): http://www.usda.gov/…

CORN

Production for 2018-19 is pegged at 14.04 billion bushels with ending stocks forecast at 1.682 billion bushels, down 500 million bushels from the 2017-18 crop.

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Old-crop ending stocks for corn are unchanged from the April forecast at 2.18 billion bushels.

Brazil's corn crop was pegged at 87 million metric tons, down 5 mmt from April's projection.

SOYBEANS

USDA projects the 2018-19 soybean crop at 4.28 billion bushels, down 112 million bushels from the 2017-18 crop year. Soybean new-crop ending stocks are pegged at 415 million bushels.

Old-crop ending stocks are projected at 530 million bushels, down 20 million bushels from last month's projection.

USDA bumped up Brazil's soybean production to 117 million metric tons, up 2 mmt from the April report. Argentina's production was dropped again to 39 mmt, down 1 mmt from April.

WHEAT

All winter wheat is projected at 1.19 billion bushels, down 6% from a year ago. The winter wheat yield is projected at 48.1 bushels per acre, down 2.1 bushels from last year.

Hard red winter wheat is projected at 647 million bushels, slightly above the pre-report average estimate. Hard red winter wheat production is forecast to be down 14% from last year's crop. Soft red winter wheat is projected at 315 million bushels, up 8% from a year ago. White winter wheat is projected at 229 million bushels.

ANALYSIS

The biggest semi-surprise in domestic 2017-2018 ending stocks was seen in soybeans, said DTN Senior Analyst Darin Newsom. USDA dropped its guess from April's 550 mb to 530 mb by increasing crush demand 20 mb and leaving everything else unchanged. Corn ending stocks were left unchanged at 2.182 bb, while wheat was increased slightly to 1.070 bb. "Soybeans could be viewed as neutral to bullish, corn neutral and wheat neutral to bearish," Newsom said.

"New-crop 2018-2019 U.S. ending stocks could be viewed as slightly bearish for corn, bullish for soybeans and bearish for wheat," Newsom said.

USDA's guesses on world 2017-2018 ending stocks were a mixed bag, Newsom said, with corn coming in below the average pre-report estimate, soybeans above, and wheat slightly below. Guesses for both Brazilian and Argentine production came in slightly above pre-report estimates. "These numbers could be viewed as largely neutral," Newsom said.

"2018-2019 world ending stocks guesses could be viewed as bullish for corn, bullish for soybeans and neutral to bullish for wheat," Newsom said.

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Editor's Note: Join DTN Analyst Todd Hultman at 12 p.m. CDT Thursday as he looks at USDA's "initial" estimates for the 2018-2019 crops as well as changes to old-crop supply and demand tables. To register, visit https://dtn.webex.com/….

2017-18 U.S. ENDING STOCKS (Million Bushels)
May Average High Low April 2016-17
Corn 2,182 2,178 2,208 2,132 2,182 2,293
Soybeans 530 541 565 490 550 302
Grain Sorghum 29 30 32 28 29 33
Wheat 1,070 1,067 1,090 941 1,064 1,181
2018-19 U.S. ENDING STOCKS (Million Bushels)
May Average High Low Outlook
Corn 1,682 1,631 1,907 1,467 2,272
Soybeans 415 549 715 336 460
Wheat 955 923 1,005 780 931
2018-19 U.S. PRODUCTION (Million Bushels)
May Average High Low Outlook 2017
Corn 14,040 14,091 14,604 13,921 14,390 14,604
Soybeans 4,280 4,311 4,430 4,248 4,320 4,392
2018-19 WINTER WHEAT PRODUCTION (Billion Bushels)
May Average High Low Outlook 2017-18
All Wheat 1,821 1,757 1,832 1,612 1,839 1,741
All Winter Wheat 1,192 1,180 1,304 1,062 NA 1,269
HRW 647 644 797 540 NA 750
SRW 315 306 330 218 NA 292
White 229 230 260 201 NA 227
2017-18 WORLD ENDING STOCKS (million metric tons)
May Avg. High Low April 2016-17
Corn 194.85 195.20 198.00 192.20 197.78 230.90
Soybeans 92.16 90.00 91.00 88.50 90.80 96.72
Wheat 270.46 271.30 273.40 268.50 271.22 254.60
2018-19 WORLD ENDING STOCKS (million metric tons)
May Avg. High Low
Corn 159.15 182.00 192.50 148.70
Soybeans 86.70 91.10 97.00 75.50
Wheat 264.33 267.70 278.70 260.00
WORLD PRODUCTION (Million Metric Tons) 2017-2018
May Avg. High Low April 2016-17
Corn
Brazil corn 87.0 88.2 91.0 83.9 92.0 98.5
Argentina corn 33.0 32.1 33.0 31.0 33.0 41.0
Soybeans
Brazil soybeans 117.0 116.6 119.0 115.0 115.0 114.1
Argentina soybeans 39.0 38.6 40.0 37.0 40.0 57.8
2017-18 2016-17
Wheat May Apr May Apr
European Union 151.58 151.60 145.37 145.25
FSU - 12 142.20 142.77 130.09 130.47

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