WASHINGTON, DC, US — The US Department of Agriculture’s March World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report issued midday contained nothing to excite grain and oilseed markets. The USDA left unchanged from February its forecasts for the 2020 carryovers of wheat, corn, soybeans and rice.   

In the case of wheat, the USDA forecast the carryover on June 1, 2020, at 940 million bushels, down 140 million bushels, or 13%, from 1.080 billion bushels in 2019. There were no adjustments in the 2019-20 supply, at 3.105 billion bushels, or demand, at 2.165 billion bushels, including 1 billion bushels for exports. The by-class forecasts for wheat also were unchanged from February with the hard red winter wheat carryover at 484 million bushels (516 million in 2019), the hard red spring carryover at 249 million bushels (263 million in 2019), the soft red winter wheat carryover at 106 million bushels (158 million), the white wheat carryover at 80 million bushels (88 million), and the durum carryover at 21 million bushels (55 million).

The USDA forecast the carryover of corn on Sept. 1, 2020, at 1.892 billion bushels, down 329 million bushels, or 15%, from 2.221 billion bushels in 2019. All 2019-20 supply-and-demand forecasts were unchanged with feed and residual use at 5.525 billion bushels, (5.430 billion bushels in 2018-19); food, seed and industrial use at 6.820 billion bushels (6.793 billion bushels), including use for manufacturing ethanol at 5.425 billion bushels (5.378 billion bushels); and exports at 1.725 billion bushels (2.065 billion bushels).

The USDA projected the carryover of soybeans on Sept. 1, 2020, at 425 million bushels down 484 million bushels, or 53%, from 909 million bushels in 2019. All 2019-20 supply-and-demand forecasts were unchanged with the exception of seed use of soybeans at 99 million bushels, up 3 million from February, and residual at 29 million bushels, down 3 million.

The USDA forecast the carryover of rice on Aug. 1, 2020, at 30 million cwts, down 14.9 million cwts, or 33%, from 44.9 million cwts in 2019. All supply-and-demand categories for 2019-20 were unchanged from February.