03/12/08 USDA boosts wheat export forecast; drops carryout

Farm and Ranch March 12, 2008 In its March supply and demand report for wheat Tuesday the USDA trimmed another 30 million bushels off of projected U.S. ending stocks come May 31st. Bange: "What we are looking at now is an ending stocks number of 242 million bushels, which would in fact be the lowest ending stocks number in about sixty years." That's Gerald Bange, chair of USDA's Outlook Board, and that 242 million bushels is a stocks-to-use ratio of only ten percent. The reduction in carryover was due mainly to a 25 million bushel increase in the export forecast for the marketing year due to the pace of export sales and shipments and on continued export restrictions by major competitor countries. Only hard red winter and hard red spring saw export numbers raised. Ending stocks of soft red winter and white wheat were unchanged with white wheat carry out still at 27 million bushels. Tom Willander of Country Hedging doesn't expect that to change much. Willander: "You know for the next three months I doubt there is much change in that. There may be some soft red winter wheat sales, but white wheat it just seemed like it stopped. And durum too. I think end users probably have what they need and it is kind of flat then from here on out." USDA raised global wheat ending stocks from last month slightly, but they remain at a 30 year low. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.