WASHINGTON — Year over year quarterly soybean and wheat stocks were up and corn lower on Dec. 1 in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s grain stocks report released Feb. 8. U.S. corn stored in all positions on Dec. 1 totaled 12 billion bushels, down 5 percent from Dec. 1, 2017. Of the total corn stocks, 7.45 billion bushels are stored on farms, down 4 percent from a year earlier. Off-farm stocks, at 4.50 billion bushels, are down 7 percent from a year ago. The September-November 2018 indicated disappearance for corn is 4.61 billion bushels, compared with 4.34 billion bushels during the same period last year. The USDA estimated soybeans stored in all positions on Dec. 1, 2018 was 3.74 billion bushels, up 18 percent from Dec. 1, 2017. Soybean stocks stored on farms totaled 1.94 billion bushels, up 30 percent from a year ago. Off-farm stocks, at 1.80 billion bushels, are 7 percent above last December. Indicated disappearance for September-November 2018 totaled 1.25 billion bushels of soybeans, down 20 percent from the same period a year earlier. All wheat stored in all positions on Dec. 1, 2018, totaled 2 billion bushels, up 7 percent from a year ago. On-farm stocks are estimated at 504 million bushels, up 28 percent from last December. Off-farm stocks, at 1.50 billion bushels, are up 1 percent from a year ago. The September-November 2018 indicated disappearance is 390 million bushels, 1 percent below the same period a year earlier. Storage Capacity Capacity of off-farm commercial grain storage in the U.S. totaled 11.5 billion bushels on Dec. 1, 2018, 2 percent above the Dec. 1, 2017 total. The largest increase occurred in Kansas where an additional 50 million bushels of capacity was added since Dec. 1, 2017. Other notable increases were shown in Minnesota, where capacity increased 40 million bushels, and Iowa which was up 30 million bushels from 2017. Illinois and Iowa remained the two largest off-farm storage capacity states during 2018 with both at 1.50 billion bushels. Kansas was the third largest followed by Nebraska and Minnesota. These five states accounted for 51 percent of the nation’s off-farm storage capacity on Dec. 1, 2018. Off-farm storage facilities totaled 8,482 on Dec. 1, 2018, down 1 percent from the Dec. 1, 2017 estimate. States with the largest number of facilities include Iowa with 870, Illinois with 840, Kansas with 715, Minnesota with 565, and Nebraska with 487. Tom C. Doran can be reached at 815-780-7894 or tdoran@agrinews-pubs.com. Follow him on Twitter at: @AgNews_Doran.
Soyabean inventories throughout the US were estimated at 3.74 billion bushels as of 1 December 2018, an 18% YoY increase, according to a US Department of Agriculture report. The soybean harvest is expected to be down by about 10% from last year, with soybeans accounting for more than half of total U.S. production. From September to November 2018, indicated disappearance for the oilseed was down 20% to 1.25 billion bushels. Additionally, as of 1 December 2018, corn stocks fell by 5% to 12 billion bushels, while wheat storage grew 7% to 2 billion bushels.