USDA Reports Summary

USDA Lowers Corn Production

USDA released its latest Crop Production and World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) reports at 11 a.m. CDT Friday, July 10. (Logo courtesy of USDA)

This article was originally posted at 11:02 a.m. CDT. It was updated at 11:24 a.m.

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OMAHA (DTN) -- Even with a higher old-crop carryover, USDA on Friday found lowered corn production and maintained demand for the 2020-21 corn crop, leading to a forecast of lower ending stocks for the crop.

USDA on Friday released the July report for the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) as well as the Crop Production report.

For corn, USDA bumped up the carryover into 2020-21 by 145 million bushels (mb) while lowering production with fewer acres to 15 billion bushels (bb) even. That led to a decline in ending stocks at 2.648 bb, slightly lower than the average pre-report estimate.

According to DTN Lead Analyst Todd Hultman, Friday's new U.S. and world ending stocks estimates were slightly bullish for corn, soybeans and wheat.

Check this page throughout the morning for important highlights from the reports and commentary from our analysts on what the numbers mean.

You can also access the full reports here:

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

Keeping with the June Acreage report, USDA pegged corn acreage to 92 million acres but maintained the yield at 178.5 bushels per acre (bpa), pegging crop production at 15 bb, down from 995 mb from the June estimate.

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The pre-report analyst average pegged crop production at 15.06 bb.

Ending stocks for the 2020-21 crop were pegged at 2.648 bb, down from 3.23 bb in the June report. The pre-report average for ending stocks was forecast at 2.73 bb.

Corn exports remained at 2.15 bb, the same as June. Feed and residual demand was projected at 5.85 bb, down from 6.05 bb in June. Ethanol demand remained steady, projected at 5.2 bb.

Total demand for the 2020-21 crop was forecast at 14.625 bb. With lower ending stocks at 2.648 bb, that put the stocks-to-use ratio for the 2020-21 crop at 18.1%.

The average farm-gate price was projected at $3.35 per bushel, a 15-cent bump from the June report.

Globally, corn production for the 2019-20 crop year for Brazil was forecast at 101 million metric tons (3.97 bb) and Argentina's crop was pegged at 50 mmt (1.97 bb).

Looking ahead, USA lowered global beginning stocks for the 2020-21 crop year to 311.95 mmt, down 960,000 metric tons from the June report. Production was also lowered global production 25.27 mmt to 1,163.21 mmt. With demand and use holding steady, that leads to the 2020-21 global ending stocks being lowered to 315.04 mmt, down 22.83 mmt from June.

SOYBEANS

For the 2020-21 marketing year, U.S. soybean ending stocks are forecast at 425 mb, an increase of 30 mb from the USDA's June estimate. The agency made no changes to the new-crop demand estimates, rather attribute to the change to higher supplies.

USDA increased its production forecast to 4.14 bb, incorporating its higher forecast for soybean acreage. USDA also increased its beginning stocks estimate.

On the old-crop balance sheet, USDA's forecast for ending stocks increased 35 mb to 620 mb, toward the high side of pre-report estimates. USDA reduced residual usage for soybeans by 50 mb, which it says reflects the recent Grain Stocks report and reported soybean usage through May.

The season average farm gate price for 2020-21 increased $0.30 from last month to $8.50 per bushel.

Globally, new-crop ending stocks declined by 1.26 mmt to 95.1 mmt, below the average trade estimate. USDA said it expects lower production globally along with a slowdown in exports and increase in crush.

For 2019-20 crop year, global ending stocks totaled 99.67 mmt. The 2019-20 Brazilian production estimate was increased by 2 mmt to 126 mmt while the Argentine production estimate was left unchanged at 50 mmt.

WHEAT

USDA raised old-crop ending stocks 61 mb to 1.04 bb. Wheat production for 2020-21 was lowered 53 mb to 1.824 bb.

Food demand for the 2020-21 crop held steady at 964 mb, but USDA lowered feed and residual use 10 mb to 90 mb. That brought down total domestic use 10 mb to 1.115 bb. The export forecast remained the same at 950 mb.

Ending stocks for the 2020-21 crop were increased to 942 mb in the report, up from 925 million bushels last month.

The average farm-gate price for the 2020-21 crop remained at $4.60 a bushel as well.

USDA is still forecasting another record world wheat crop for the 2020-21 marketing year -- 769.3 mmt -- although that forecast declined from last month. USDA expects European production to decline by 1.5 mmt, primarily due to reduction in France and Spain. Russia production was cut by 500,000 metric tons while Morocco's was slashed by 800,000 mt.

As a result, USDA forecast global ending stocks at 314.84 mmt, but remains a record-large number, with China and India holding 51% and 10% of the world's stockpiles.

LIVESTOCK

Beef production increased in the latest WASDE report, with expected production increasing to 7.02 billion pounds through the third quarter. This is up from a 6.9-billion-pound estimate in June.

The continued focus on short-term production through both third and fourth quarter will likely create additional price pressure through the end of the year.

Pork production also sparked strong gains following the expectation that increased hog supply numbers will be seen through most of the year based on plant production challenges through the early half of 2020. Pork production in the third quarter is expected to be at 7.3 billion pounds, up 310 million pounds from the June report.

Beef and pork demand is expected to see additional firmness as the focus on reduced wholesale and retail prices through the summer months is starting to create additional demand support through the entire market. Projected beef demand for 2020 is expected to be 27.1 billion pounds, while pork demand for the year is expected at 21.99 billion pounds.

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Editor's Note: Join DTN Analyst Todd Hultman at 12 p.m. CDT on Friday, July 10, for a look at what the day's numbers mean for grain prices. To register, visit: https://dtn.webex.com/…

U.S. PRODUCTION (Million Bushels) 2020-21
Jul Avg High Low Jun 2019-20
Corn 15,000 15,060 15,296 14,994 15,995 13,617
Soybeans 4,135 4,167 4,382 4,133 4,125 3,552
U.S. AVERAGE YIELD (Bushels Per Acre) 2020-21 (WASDE)
Jul Avg High Low Jun 2019-20
Corn 178.5 178.9 181.0 178.0 178.5 167.4
Soybeans 49.8 50.1 52.8 49.8 49.8 47.4
U.S. ENDING STOCKS (Million Bushels) 2019-20
Jul Avg High Low Jun
Corn 2,248 2,286 2,403 2,200 2,103
Soybeans 620 589 635 535 585
Wheat 1,044 1,042 1,053 1,010 983
U.S. ENDING STOCKS (Million Bushels) 2020-21
Jul Average High Low Jun
Corn 2,648 2,782 3,010 2,525 3,323
Soybeans 425 443 572 355 395
Wheat 942 959 1,006 875 925
WORLD ENDING STOCKS (Million metric tons) 2019-20
Jul Avg High Low Jun
Corn 312.0 315.7 320.5 311.8 312.9
Soybeans 99.7 99.5 101.0 98.0 99.2
Wheat 297.1 297.1 298.0 296.0 295.8
WORLD ENDING STOCKS (million metric tons) 2020-21
Jul Avg. High Low Jun
Corn 315.0 325.6 340.0 310.0 337.9
Soybeans 95.1 97.7 107.6 94.7 96.3
Wheat 314.8 315.5 317.6 311.8 316.1
WORLD PRODUCTION (million metric tons) 2019-20
Jul Avg High Low Jun 2018-19
CORN
Argentina 50.0 49.9 50.0 49.0 50.0 51.0
Brazil 101.0 100.8 103.0 99.0 101.0 101.0
SOYBEANS
Argentina 50.0 50.0 51.0 49.0 50.0 55.3
Brazil 126.0 123.4 125.0 122.0 124.0 119.0
U.S. PRODUCTION (million bushels) 2020-21
Jul Avg. High Low Jun 2019-20
All Wheat 1,824 1,855 1,885 1,826 1,877 1,920
Winter 1,304 1,249 1,285 1,227 1,266 1,304
HRW 710 732 760 710 743 833
SRW 280 291 301 269 297 239
White 275 225 230 219 225 232
Other Spring 550 548 564 529 N/A 562
Durum 56 59 65 52 N/A 54
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