Year-over-year corn stocks higher

WASHINGTON — U.S. corn stocks at the end of the first quarter are up 13% from a year ago, while soybean supplies are 1% lower.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture released its quarterly grain stocks report Jan. 12, reflecting on-farm and off-farm grain supplies as of Dec. 1.

Corn stored in all positions on Dec. 1, 2023, totaled 12.2 billion bushels, 13% above the Dec. 1, 2022, total.

Of the total corn stocks, 7.83 billion bushels are stored on farms, a 16% increase from a year earlier. Off-farm stocks, at 4.34 billion bushels, are up 7% from a year ago.

The September-November 2023 indicated corn disappearance is 4.53 billion bushels, compared with 4.21 billion bushels during the same period last year.

Soybeans stored in all positions on Dec. 1, 2023, totaled 3 billion bushels, down 1% from Dec. 1, 2022.

Soybean stocks stored on farms totaled 1.45 billion bushels, 2% below a year ago. Off-farm stocks, at 1.55 billion bushels, are up slightly from last December.

Indicated disappearance for September-November 2023 totaled 1.43 billion bushels of soybeans, down 6% from the same period a year earlier.

All wheat stored in all positions on Dec. 1, 2023, was 1.41 billion bushels, up 8% from a year ago.

On-farm all wheat stocks are estimated at 395 million bushels, 9% higher than last December. Off-farm stocks, at 1.02 billion bushels, are up 7% from a year ago.

The September-November 2023 indicated disappearance is 357 million bushels of all wheat, 23% below the same period a year earlier.

Storage Capacity

Capacity of off-farm commercial grain storage in the United States totaled 11.9 billion bushels on Dec. 1, 2023, up less than 1% from the Dec. 1, 2022, total.

The largest increases occurred in Illinois where an additional 30 million bushels of capacity were added since Dec. 1, 2022.

Other notable increases were shown in Kansas, where capacity increased 20 million bushels, and Iowa and Washington, which were both up 10 million bushels from 2022.

Illinois and Iowa remained the two largest off-farm storage capacities in the nation during 2023 with 1.68 billion and 1.53 billion bushels, respectively. Kansas was the third largest, followed by Nebraska and Minnesota.

These five states accounted for 53% of the nation’s off-farm storage capacity on Dec. 1, 2023.

Corn Stocks by Position

Dec. 1, 2022 and 2023

(1,000 bushels)

Illinois

2022 on-farm: 1,100,00

2022 off-farm: 879,917

2023 on-farm: 1,100,000

2023 off-farm: 874,541

Indiana

2022 on-farm 570,000

2022 off-farm: 272,608

2023 on-farm: 630,000

2023 off-farm: 269,195

Iowa

2022 on-farm: 1,270,000

2022 off-farm: 765,356

2023 on-farm: 1,330,000

2023 off-farm: 752,813

Soybean Stocks by Position

Dec. 1, 2022 and 2023

(1,000 bushels)

Illinois

2022 on-farm: 265,000

2022 off-farm: 280,376

2023 on-farm: 245,000

2023 off-farm: 302,260

Indiana

2022 on-farm: 165,000

2022 off-farm: 114,974

2023 on-farm: 145,000

2023 off-farm: 103,027

Iowa

2022 on-farm: 215,000

2022 off-farm: 266,289

2023 on-farm: 190,000

2023 off-farm: 269,648