On September 29, 2017, the USDA updated its quarterly Grain Stocks report, which was the last report for the 2016/17 marketing year. The data indicated smaller-than-expected build-up in quarterly corn stocks. Nonetheless, as Figure 1 shows, estimated ending stocks for the 2016/17 marketing year are the second largest since 1987/1988 (4.259 billion bushels). Old crop (2016/17) corn stocks in all positions on September 1, 2017, were up 32.1 percent to a total of 2.295 billion bushels compared with September 1, 2016 (1.737 billion bushels). Thirty-four-percent (787 million bushels) of the total stocks were stored on farms up 25 percent year-over-year. The remaining 66 percent (1.508 billion bushels) represented off-farm stocks. Compared with the same period last year, off-farm stocks were up 35.9 percent (see Figure 1). Based on the June 29, 2017, grain stock report, which indicated a total of 5.229 billion bushels in corn stocks as of June 1, 2017, there has been a corn disappearance of 2.93 billion bushels between June and August 2017. Disappearance was down 1% year-over-year (2.97 billion bushels).
Figure 1. U.S. Corn Stocks
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