Season-average price estimates for wheat, corn, soybeans, soybean meal, cheese and cotton were all raised slightly in the Agriculture Department’s latest World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report published Thursday.

The April WASDE is the last report focusing on the current crop year; the May report will include estimates for the new crop year. In a briefing, USDA World Agricultural Outlook Board Chair Mark Jankowski noted that 90% of the year has already been marketed.

Nonetheless, the latest report shows the season-average farm price for wheat is up 5 cents to $5 per bushel, with corn raised the same amount to $4.15. 

“We’re expecting a little bit of a seasonal rise in prices in the months ahead,” Jankowski said.

The soybean price is up 10 cents to $10.30 a bushel, and the season-average meal price is up $10 to $310 per short ton. Soybean crush expectations are up 35 million bushels, but exports are lowered, leaving ending stocks unchanged.

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Jankowski attributed part of the reduction in exports to “strong competition from South America, where prices are a bit lower than in the U.S.”

Stronger competition from Brazil also contributed to reduced anticipated broiler meat exports,  he said. USDA reduced broiler export estimates by 75 million pounds.

The cotton price is up just 1 cent to 61 cents per pound. USDA notes that China, India and Pakistan are all set to increase their production by around 300,000 bales, but consumption is also set to rise with higher demand from China and India.

Ending stocks for wheat are raised in the report to 938 million bushels, 10% higher than last year and the largest amount since the 2019/20 marketing year. 

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