USDA Corn Stocks Report Sends Futures Lower

The corn stocks report released by the USDA on Wednesday showed higher-than-expected levels of old-crop corn, putting downward pressure on futures. The report estimated that old-crop corn stocks in all positions totaled 2.1 billion bushels as of September 1, a 35% increase from the same date last year.

Of this total, 787 million bushels are stored on farms and 1.31 billion bushels were stored off-farm. Disappearance of corn from June to August totaled 3.2 billion bushels compared to 3.1 billion bushels during the same period a year ago.

Joe Camp, an analyst with CommStock Investments, noted that even with a slightly smaller crop, there has been less disappearance, but potentially less usage overall. 'The bear of surprise being that even with a slightly smaller crop, you've got less disappearance, but potentially less usage overall,' Camp said.