WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S. – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released on Jan. 12 its Winter Wheat Seedings, Crop Production, Grain Stocks and World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates reports with several key numbers coming in above expectations.

U.S. winter wheat seeded in 2011 for harvest in 2012 was estimated at 41,947,000 acres, up 1,301,000 acres, or 3%, from 40,646,000 acres seeded for harvest in 2011, the USDA said in its annual Winter Wheat Seedings report. The USDA number was above the average trade estimate near 41 million acres.

Wheat stored in all positions on Dec. 1, 2011, totaled 1,656,423,000 bushels, down 14% from 1,932,946,000 bushels on Dec. 1, 2010, the USDA said in its quarterly Grain Stocks report. Dec. 1 corn stocks were down 4% from a year ago at 9,641,903,000 bushels, and soybean stocks were up 4% at 2,365,784,000 bushels. The USDA wheat number was below the average trade expectation of 1.679 billion bushels, but USDA numbers were above average trade estimates for corn of 9.4 billion bushels and for soybeans of 2.312 billion bushels.

U.S. wheat carryover on June 1, 2012, was projected at 870 million bushels, down 8 million bushels from 878 million bushels forecast in December but up 8 million bushels from 862 million bushels in 2011, the USDA said in its January World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates. The projected USDA 2012 wheat carryover number was above the average trade expectation of 831 million bushels.

U.S. corn carryover on Sept. 1, 2012, was projected at 846 million bushels, down 2 million bushels from 848 million bushels in December and down 282 million bushels, or 25%, from 1.128 billion bushels in 2011. The USDA 2012 corn carryover number was well above the average trade estimate near 753 million bushels.

Carryover of U.S. soybeans on Sept. 1, 2011, was projected at 275 million bushels, up 45 million bushels, or 20%, from 230 million bushels in December and up 60 million bushels, or 28%, from 215 million bushels in 2011. The USDA soybean carryover number also was well above the average pre-report trade estimate of 227 million bushels.

U.S. 2011 corn production was estimated at 12,358,412,000 bushels, up slightly from 12,309,936,000 bushels forecast in November but down 1% from 12,446,865,000 bushels in 2010, the USDA said in its annual Crop Production 2011 Summary. Soybean production was forecast at 3,056,032,000 bushels, also up slightly from 3,045,558,000 bushels in November but down 8% from 3,329,181,000 bushels last year, the USDA said.

Both USDA production numbers were above the average of pre-report trade estimates of 12,280 million bushels for corn and 3,042 million bushels for soybeans.