With record grain stocks piling up and a trade dispute with China over U.S. distilled grains, analyst Jim McCormick, of Allendale, expects USDA to end up increasing ending stocks in an upcoming report.
The Quarterly Grain Report is published at the end of September.
“What concerns me is the numbers the government is using look very optimistic,” McCormick told AgDay. “It argues that the fourth quarter usage has to be 20% higher than a year ago, which was the highest in six years, to hit the government’s 5.2 billion feed target.”
However, McCormick says he believes USDA will end up increasing ending stocks because “I don’t think we have that many more [animals in the pipeline], and remember, we’re going to have a huge wheat crop.”
Ending wheat stocks could increase by 100 million bushels, according to McCormick.