USDA’s Prospective Plantings report yesterday showed U.S. soybean acres could reach record levels this year.
That, if realized and assuming trendline yields, could bring a record-breaking production in 2022.
But a rise in soybean acres, means fewer corn acres.
Thus, on US farm markets, corn prices firmed moderately higher, while soybean prices tumbled.
Particularly, corn prices were up 1.46%.
Soybeans went home with 2.75% losses by the close.
Soymeal ended 1.18% in the red.
Soy oil prices had weakened by 3.16%.
Winter wheat prices also faded, with Chicago down 2.07% and Kansas City 1.41% weaker.
Spring wheat prices, meantime, were able to hold some of their gains into the close, going home 2.03% higher on a 200k acreage cut relative to the +400k expected.
In energy markets, oil prices continued to fall slightly on this morning.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures dipped 40 cents to $99.89 a barrel at 04:37 GMT after trading as high as $101.75.
The contract slumped 7% on Thursday.
Brent crude futures slid by 8 cents to $104.63 a barrel, after dropping 5.6% on Thursday.
The May contract expired on Thursday at $107.91.
The planned U.S. release caused the sell-off.
Thus the two benchmark contracts are each headed for a weekly loss of about 13%, their biggest in two years.
Member nations of the International Energy Agency (IEA) will meet today at 12:00 GMT to discuss a further emergency oil release that would follow their March 1 pact to release about 60 million barrels.
Yesterday, U.S. President Joe Biden announced a release of 1 million barrels per day for six months, starting in May.
That will be the largest release ever from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Oil prices could reverse course, however, if the release is scaled back or delayed or if delivered volumes are less than those in the White House announcement, consultancy Eurasia Group said in a note.
Traders are waiting to see how much oil the IEA countries agree to release but do not expect it to have much long-term effect on the market.
“Previous releases from the SPR have taken time to reach the market and have had little impact on prices,” ANZ Research analysts said in a note.
While Biden called for U.S. producers to step up output, ANZ analysts said the massive SPR release could actually backfire and discourage producers from drilling more.
OPEC+, stuck to plans to add a modest 432,000 barrels per day of supply in May, despite western pressure on Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to use their spare capacity to boost output further.
Further weighing on oil futures, China’s commercial hub of Shanghai extended late on Thursday an existing lockdown in its eastern districts, while the western portions were shut down as scheduled.
In the freight markets, the Baltic Exchange’s dry bulk sea freight index fell to its lowest level in over three weeks yesterday, dragged by sliding panamax and supramax vessel rates, although the main index posted monthly and quarterly gains.
The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels, indeed, dipped 11 points, or about 0.5%, to 2,358 points, its lowest since March 8.
The main index, however, has gained about 6.4% this quarter and 15.6% in March, its second monthly gain this year.
Particularly, the panamax index dipped 95 points, or 2.9%, to 3,141 points.
The index added about 22.1% this quarter, after posting declines in the last two.
For the month, it was up more than 20%.
Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes, fell by $850 to $28,273.
The capesize index gained 114 points, or 6.9%, to 1,760, but posted its second straight quarterly decline at 23.9% and an 8.8% monthly decline.
Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, increased $938 at $14,593.
The supramax index dropped 67 points to 2,808 points and increased about 22.6% for the first quarter of the year.
In equity markets, U.S. stock indexes closed lower yesterday, ending out its worst quarter since the pandemic broke out two years ago.
A 3.6% gain for March, indeed, failed to offset a dismal January and February that left U.S. indexes lower for the year to date.
Global growth concerns weighed on stocks after Chinese economic data showed manufacturing activity contracted in March.
Particularly, China’s Mar manufacturing PMI fell -0.7 to 49.5, weaker than expectations of 49.8 and the weakest report in 5 months.
Likewise, the China Mar non-manufacturing PMI fell -3.2 to 48.4, weaker than expectations of 50.3 and the weakest report in 7 months.
US stocks, fell back more after published Thursday’s weaker-than-expected U.S. economic data.
On the negative side, indeed, weekly initial unemployment claims rose +14,000 to 202,000, showing a weaker labor market than expectations of 196,000.
Also, Feb personal spending rose +0.2% m/m, weaker than expectations of +0.5% m/m.
On the positive side, Feb personal income rose +0.5% m/m, right on expectations.
Also, the Mar MNI Chicago PMI rose +6.6 to 62.9, stronger than expectations of 57.0.
Inflation concerns were bearish for stocks after the U.S Feb PCE core deflator rose +5.4% y/y, the largest increase in nearly 39 years.
Technology and communications stocks were among the biggest weights on the market.
Chipmaker Intel fell 3.6%, while Facebook parent Meta Platforms slid 2.4%.
Banks also fell along with bond yields, which forces interest rates on loans lower, making lending less profitable for banks.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 2.34% from 2.36% late Wednesday.
Bank of America fell 4.1%.
In this context, the S&P 500 lost 1.6% to 4,530.41.
Its loss since the beginning of the year is 4.9%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average also fell 1.6%, to 34,678.35.
The Nasdaq composite fell 1.5% to 14,220.52.
Both indexes also notched gains for March, thanks largely to a market rally in the two weeks heading into this week.
The Russell 2000 index dropped 20.94 points, or 1%, to 2,070.13.
Meantime, Asian shares were mostly lower this morning as a resurgence of Russian attacks dashed hopes for any quick end to the war in Ukraine.
The retreat followed the broad decline on Wall Street.
A closely watched quarterly gauge of business sector sentiment in Japan called the “tankan,” carried out by the Bank of Japan, found the benchmark indicator for large manufacturers dropped for the first time in seven quarters, losing three points from a survey in December to 14 points from 17 points.
Supply chain disruptions at top manufacturers caused by COVID-19 restrictions and growing worries about inflation, especially soaring energy costs, are clouding the outlook for already fragile growth in the world’s third largest economy.
The war is the biggest single factor weighing on markets, analysts say.
Rising COVID cases in China are adding to the worries of a regional slowdown.
The lockdown in Shanghai entered its second phase of extended restrictions, while restrictions were lifted in hard hit Jilin.
In this context, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 0.4% in afternoon trading to 27,698.25.
Shares in electronics and energy giant Toshiba Corp. jumped 6.5% on news that Bain Capital might make an offer to acquire the company and take it private.
Toshiba said it was not involved in any such talks.
South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.7% to 2,739.58.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged down 0.8% to 7,493.80.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 1.0% to 21,772.56, while the Shanghai Composite added 0.8% to 3,276.99.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 122.52 Japanese yen from 121.69 yen.
The euro was unchanged at $1.1066.
The dollar index on Thursday rose by +0.508 (+0.52%).
A slide in stocks Thursday boosted the liquidity demand for the dollar.
On the weather side, after plenty of wet weather earlier this week, there will still be a bit more rain and snow possible across much of the central U.S. between today and Monday, per the latest 72-hour cumulative precipitation map from NOAA.
The agency’s 8-to-14-day outlooks still shows the probability for drier-than-normal conditions across the Central and Southern Plains between April 7 and April 13, with seasonally cool weather hanging in the eastern Corn Belt and Great Lakes region during that time.
On the demand side, FAS data showed 636,852 MT of old crop corn was sold for export during the week that ended 3/24.
That was a 4-week low and just above the low end of the expected range.
New crop corn sales were 286,800 MT from the same week.
That was at the high end of estimates, and left the forward book at 2.426 MMT.
That is 21% ahead of the forward commitments coming into the 21/22 MY at the same time.
Weekly corn shipments were shown as 1.882 MMT, leaving the accumulated export as 32.18 MMT through 3/24.
Soybean export sales were 1.306 MMT during the week that ended 3/24.
That was a 3 fold increase wk/wk and compares to just 105k MT sold during the same week last year.
Analyst expectations were capped at 1.4 MMT going in.
New crop soybean sales came in at 54k MT during the week, and left the forward book at 8.164 MMT – a 54% lead over last season’s pace.
As for export shipments, weekly USDA data showed 670k MT were shipped during the week and 43.545 MMT for the MYTD.
As for wheat, data showed wheat bookings were 94,987 MT during the week that ended 3/24.
That was at the low end of pre-report estimates and down 40% wk/wk.
USDA reported 81,300 MT (25.8k HRW and 55.5k SRW) were sold for 22/23 delivery.
Weekly wheat exports were 349,209 MT.
Mexico was the top destination.
That left total wheat shipments at 15.496 MMT through 3/24.
In this context, corn basis bids were steady to firm across the central U.S., after rising 1 to 6 cents at three Midwestern ethanol plants and tracking 2 cents higher at a Nebraska processor.
Soybean basis bids were largely unchanged across the central U.S., but did trend 5 cents higher at an Illinois river terminal.
The funds were net sellers yesterday for 22,500 lots of soybeans and 5,000 lots of wheat.
They were net buyers for 15,000 lots of corn.
From South America, Brazilian consultancy Datagro slightly increased its estimates for the country’s 2021/22 total corn production from 117.81 MMT previously up to 118.29 MMT in its new estimate.
The country suffered widespread drought early this season but the second corn crop has a better chance after recent rains.
Also, Brazilian consultancy Datagro now estimates that the country’s 2021/22 soybean production will fall 4% short of its prior forecast, with a new projection of 125.11 MMT.
The consensus is increasingly stronger that Brazil will fail to see a 136 MMT crop this season.
Meantime, Toronto-based Brazil Potash Corp has laid out for Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro this week its plans to reduce his country’s dependence on fertilizer imports disrupted by the Ukraine war by opening a potash mine in the Amazon.
The company’s owner, investment banker Stan Bharti, met with Bolsonaro on Monday to discuss the $2.5 billion project that has been held up since 2017 due to a suspended environmental permit pending consultations with the indigenous Mura people.
Bolsonaro told Bharti his government was committed to “unlocking” fertilizer projects such as the potash mine that are strategic for Brazil, said former Senator Cidinho Santos, who attended the meeting, in an Instagram post on Wednesday.
But the decision to allow the mine at Autazes, 75 miles (120 kms) southeast of the state capital Manaus, is not entirely up to Bolsonaro.
The project now depends on a ruling by Federal Judge Jaiza Fraxe, who is monitoring talks with the Mura people to make sure they have a fair say.
As potash prices tripled last year and war has threatened supplies from Russia and Eastern Europe, pressure to open the potash mine has grown from Brazil’s farm sector, which relies on imports for 85% of its fertilizer, needed to raise crop yields.
Potassio do Brasil, a subsidiary of Brazil Potash, which is wholly-owned by Bharti’s Forbes & Manhattan bank, said it would take three years to get the mine operating, with an output of 2.44 million tonnes per year once permits are obtained.
Early frosts in Argentina’s farming belt could cause further losses to soybeans and corn for the 2021/22 season, the Buenos Aires grains exchange said on Thursday, a potential blow to production already hit hard by drought earlier this year.
Due to a drought between December and January, the exchange cut its soybean harvest forecast by 2 million tonnes and by 7 million tonnes for corn.
It currently estimates soybean production at 42 million tonnes and corn at 49 million tonnes, with both harvests getting under way.
“Frost seen in the previous 10 days could generate additional losses than expected”.
The southeast of Buenos Aires province has been the most affected region.
Meantime, soy harvest was around 19% complete.
Regarding corn, frosts were affecting yields of late-planted corn, which is still in the development stages.
The corn harvest is around 14.4% complete.
The exchange last week cut its forecast for corn by other 2 million tonnes due to dry weather, coming after an even larger cut earlier in the year.
Meantime, the sunflower harvest was 88.5% complete, with an estimated production of 3.3 million tonne.
In Europe, grain prices rose yesterday after the publication of the Planting intentions & Quarterly stocks report, while variations in rapeseed were more disparate with a drop in prices in the 2021 harvest and a good performance in the 2022 harvest.
Geopolitics remains at the center of market concerns.
Also, corn acreage could be down in France too this year, as a result in particular of the rise in the price of inputs such as nitrogen.
The possibility of cultivating fallow land this year should have a relatively limited impact on the 2022 harvest given the late period for farmers to modify their spring rotations and the difficulties in obtaining inputs.
Per latest weekly estimates today from farm office FranceAgriMer, the crop conditions of French soft wheat were 92% Good/Excellent unchanged from last week.
Winter barley was rated at 88% in Good/Excellent condictions unchanged from last week.
Durum wheat is seen at 87% in Good/Excellent sligtly below 88% last week’s conditions.
Spring barley was rated at 92% in Good/Excellent condictions vs. 93% past week.
The lack of precipitation that marked the end of winter and the drop in temperatures expected at the end of the week, however, raise some fears.
On this wake, durum wheat prices which had lost ground early this week in a completely stalled market as Italian demand has subsided in recent weeks, yesterday surged by 40€/ton in Paris to €450 per tonnes.
Also, as a reminder, Agreste anticipated that durum wheat national surfaces at only 277 kha this year.
That is a drop of 14 kha compared to last year and 25 kha on the five-year average.
Meantime, France is facing its worst bird flu crisis in history as a rare rebound in outbreaks of the highly contagious virus reached the country’s largest poultry producing regions with cullings topping more than 11 million birds.
The spread of bird flu has raised concern among governments and the poultry industry due to the ravages it can cause to flocks, potential trade restrictions and a risk of human transmission.
The crisis comes as farmers are already facing soaring feed prices France’s LDC, the EU’s largest poultry producer will virtually halt four slaughterhouses, producing 1.1 million poultry per week, for up to eight weeks.
However, companies will compensate part of the volume by increasing output at other sites.
France wants countries with surplus grain stocks to consider releasing supplies as part of a plan to shield poorer countries from the impact of the war in Ukraine on food staples, a French official said on Thursday.
The food security initiative had the backing of the G7 and will now be discussed with G20 nations including China and India, which have amongst the largest grain stocks in the world, the official said.
The subject will be raised with Chinese President Xi Jingping during an EU-China summit on Friday, and will also be discussed at a special meeting of the FAO on April 8, the official added.
The French government has joined international institutions in warning of a possible food crisis in developing countries in the year ahead.
France, which holds the rotating European Union presidency, sees the United Nations’ World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) helping to coordinate the allocation of extra supplies to countries facing urgent needs.
Italy will not have supply issues in the short-term regarding agricultural raw materials such as corn and wheat, the country’s agriculture minister said on Friday.
“I have no doubt that we will be able to find these raw materials. It is true that we import (corn and wheat) from the Ukrainian and Russian markets, but in percentages that can be easily replaced,” said Stefano Patuanelli, interviewed on Canale 5 television.
From North Africa, Tunisia aims to achieve self-sufficiency in the production of durum wheat from next season, the Minister of Agriculture said on Thursday, as the country’s financial crisis worsens due to the rise in grain prices.
The minister, Mahmoud Elyess, said that Tunisia will plant an additional 800,000 hectares dedicated to the cultivation of durum wheat and will focus on providing excellent seeds that increase productivity.
About 30% of Tunisian grain imports are durum wheat.
From the Black sea basin, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that he had signed a decree saying foreign buyers must pay in roubles for Russian gas from April 1, and contracts would be halted if these payments were not made.
“In order to purchase Russian natural gas, they must open rouble accounts in Russian banks. It is from these accounts that payments will be made for gas delivered starting from tomorrow,” Putin said.
“If such payments are not made, we will consider this a default on the part of buyers, with all the ensuing consequences. Nobody sells us anything for free, and we are not going to do charity either – that is, existing contracts will be stopped.”
Russia will ban exports of sunflower seeds from Friday until the end of August and impose an export quota on sunflower oil to avoid shortages and ease pressure on domestic prices, its agriculture ministry said on Thursday.
Particularly, seed exports will be banned from April 1 to Aug. 31 and an export quota of 1.5 million tonnes will be imposed on sunflower oil from April 15 to Aug. 31, the ministry said.
There will also be a 700,000-tonne export quota for sunflower meal, it added.
The government of Russia has imposed duties on export of sunflower meal and flaxseed from Russia outside the EAEU for the period from May 1 until August 31, 2022.
Flaxseed export duty is set at 20%, but not less than 100 USD/t.
The duty on export of sunflower meal will fluctuate and calculated via a certain formula as a difference between an indicative price (monthly average market price) and a base price (185 USD/t) multiplied by the value of the adjusting factor (0.7).
One more decision provides for limiting the number of checkpoints through which the export of soybean is possible.
For the period from April 1 until August 31, soybean export by road, rail and water transport is possible only through checkpoints in the Far Eastern Federal District.
For soybean meal, the export is possible via the sea checkpoint in the Kaliningrad oblast and checkpoints in the Far Eastern Federal District.
Meantime, Dmitry Medvedev warned on Friday that Russia, could limit supplies of agriculture products to “friendly” countries only.
The priority in food supply is Russia’s domestic market and price control within it, Medvedev said.
Russia has been using grain export quotas and taxes since 2021 to try to stabilise high domestic food inflation.
Agriculture supplies to “friends” will be both in roubles and their national currency in agreed proportion, Medvedev said.
Meantime, Russian crude sunflower oil was offered at a record price of $2,150 a tonne, including cost, insurance and freight (CIF), in India for April shipments, compared with $1,767 for soyoil and $1720 for crude palm oil.
In this context, excluding Russia from the Group of 20 major economies and other international institutions could slow efforts to address a worsening global food crisis exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, the head of German aid group Welthungerhilfe (WHH) told Reuters.
Mathias Mogge, chief executive of the group, which serves 14.3 million people with projects in 35 countries, said it was critical to maintain communication with Russia in tackling the crisis.
“In a humanitarian situation as we have it today, there must be open lines of communication” he added.
Mogge’s comments come days after U.S. President Joe Biden said he thinks Russia should be removed from the G20, although experts say that is unlikely to happen given lack of support from India, China and several other G20 members.
In Ukraine, according to APK-Inform, this week, the bid prices for Ukrainian crude sunflower oil have decreased.
The bid prices decreased by 110 USD/t to 1900-2000 USD/t FOB (April-May) as of the morning of April 1.
The prices are still 29-33% higher compared to the level before the war.
However, there were no new contracts signed, and the prices are indicative.
On the wake of Russian decisions, Belarus has banned exports of grain products.
Particularly, the country prohibited the exports of rice, rye and barley flour and groats, processed cereals and pasta to avoid deficit and provide the food security.
The ban will remain in force for 3 months.
According to the official data, Kazakhstan exported almost 6 thsd tonnes of rapeseed oil in February 2021/22 MY (excluding deliveries to the Customs Union countries), up 35% m/m and up 9.9 times y/y.
It is the largest monthly volume exported since March 2020.
Traditionally, China increased purchases of Kazakh rapeseed oil in the second half of the season.
In February, China was the only one importer of Kazakh oil, as the logistical problems on the border stations eased and demand increased.
“Since the beginning of 2021/22 MY, China imported 14.9 thsd tonnes of Kazakh rapeseed oil, or 61% of the overall volume exported (24.6 thsd tonnes). The USDA forecasts Kazakhstan to export 25 thsd tonnes of rapeseed oil in 2021/22 MY. Thus, the export potential has been almost performed”, – APK-Inform analysts explained.
From the Middle Kingdom, China’s COVID-19 curbs are disrupting the supply of fertiliser to the country’s northeastern bread basket just a month away from spring planting, threatening this year’s corn and soybean crops if not resolved soon.
Farmers typically have fertiliser prepared in early April before applying to fields later in the month during planting.
Fertiliser producers, dealers, analysts and associations said rules requiring truck drivers to take COVID tests every 24 hours, a need to obtain special passes to deliver goods and factory suspensions due to local COVID cases are all contributing to tight supplies.
The bottleneck comes on top of record fertiliser prices, driven up by strong global demand, high energy costs and sanctions on major producers Russia and Belarus.
Despite efforts by Beijing to cool prices, China’s wholesale fertiliser index is 40% higher than a year ago.
The northeast’s Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning provinces and Inner Mongolia region produce more than 40% of China’s corn and half its soybeans.
Prices of corn and soybeans are hovering at record highs.
Fertiliser had reached 68.8% of Jilin’s farming households by Wednesday, despite the challenges, government paper the Jilin Daily reported, adding that the supply of farm materials was “orderly and stable”.
From Australia, local markets continue to trot along, with wheat values rounding out the week relatively unchanged.
Barley offers continue to firm through Victoria and South Australia, while the bid side of the market holds.
Canola values were a touch stronger in the current crop again yesterday, while new-crop values push way to $1000/t again, with the SA non-GM track market hitting $1005/t bid, and Victoria delivered at $1000/t.
Weather maps continue to show positive outlooks for Western and eastern Australia.
The eight-day forecast shows some scattered shows through Victoria, and more heavy rain for northern New South Wales and southern Queensland.
SA growers are the ones missing out at the moment, with longer-term models forecasting some rain around the Easter weekend.
On the international trade scene, Algeria’s state grains agency OAIC is believed to have purchased about 600,000 tonnes of optional-origin milling wheat in an international tender on Wednesday.
The price paid for the wheat was estimated at about $448 a tonne c&f, they said.
In first assessments late on Wednesday, was reported an initial volume of about 120,000 tonnes, also at $448 a tonne c&f.
Some traders said the volume bought may have been slightly below 600,000 tonnes at about 570,000 tonnes.
The tender sought shipment in two periods from main supply regions including Europe over June 1-15 and June 16-30.
If sourced from South America or Australia, shipment is one month earlier.
The price level in the tender was seen as relatively low and suggested that Romanian and Bulgarian supplies could be used for at least part of the order, but French wheat could also be used.
Turkey’s state grain board TMO has provisionally purchased about 18,000 tonnes of crude sunflower oil in an international tender, in line with volumes sought.
Lowest prices in the purchase were said to be $1,896.90 a tonne including cost and freight (c&f) for a 6,000 tonne consignment.
Jordan’s state grains buyer has issued a new international tender to purchase 120,000 tonnes of animal feed barley.
The deadline for submission of price offers in the tender is April 5.
Shipment in the new tender is sought in a series of possible combinations in 60,000 tonne consignments in the full month of August and/or the full month of September.
Planting intentions & Quarterly stocks in the USA
Producers surveyed across the United States intend to plant a record high 91.0 million acres of soybeans in 2022 vs. 88.7 expected, according to the Prospective Plantings report releasedyesterday by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).
That was up 4%, from last year.
Planted acreage intentions for soybeans are up or unchanged in 24 of the 29 estimating states.
The largest increases are expected in Illinois and Missouri, where producers in each state intend to plant 400,000 more acres than in 2021.
If realized, the planted area of soybeans in Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, SouthDakota and Wisconsin will be the largest on record.
Corn growers intend to plant 89.5 million acres in 2022 vs. 92 million expected.
That was down 4% from last year.
Acreage decreases from last year of 200,000 or more are expected in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, NorthDakota, and Wisconsin.
Record high acreage is expected in Nevada and South Dakota.
Record low acreage is expected in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.
Other key findings in the report are:
All wheat planted area for 2022 is estimated at 47.4 million acres vs. 47.8 expected.
That was up 1% from 2021.
This represents the fifth lowest all wheat planted area since records began in 1919.
Particularly winter wheat planted area, at 34.2 million acres, is down less than 1% from the previous estimate but up 2% from last year.
This is the 10th lowest planted acreage on record.
Area planted to other spring wheat for 2022 is expected to total 11.2 million acres, down 2% from 2021.
Durum wheat is expected to total 1.92 million acres for 2022, up 17% from last year.
All cotton planted area for 2022 is expected to total 12.2 million acres, 9% above last year.
NASS also released the quarterly Grain Stocks report to provide estimates of on-farm and off-farm stocks as of March 1.
Key findings in that report included:
Corn stocks totaled 7.85 billion bushels vs. 7.88 expected.
That was up 2% from the same time last year.
On-farm corn stocks were up 1% from a year ago, while off-farm stocks were up 3%.
Soybeans stored totaled 1.93 billion bushels against 1.90 expected.
That was up 24% from March 1, 2021.
On-farm soybean stocks were up 26% from a year ago, while off-farm stocks were up 22%.
All wheat stored totaled 1.02 billion bushels vs. 1.05 expected.
That was down 22% from a year ago.
On-farm all wheat stocks went down 39% from last year, while off-farm stocks went down 17%.
Durum wheat stored totaled 29.7 million bushels, down 30% from March 1, 2021.
On-farm Durum stocks were down 44% from a year ago, while off-farm stocks of Durum wheat were down 13%.
