The Department of Agriculture slightly raised 2020/21 beginning and ending corn stocks in the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report released Thursday, but traders showed little reaction.

Grain markets barely reacted to USDA’s World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report released Tuesday as U.S. corn ending stocks for this marketing year are expected to grow but not as high as traders had expected.

Department of Agriculture officials dropped corn used to produce ethanol by 375 million bushels in this month’s World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report released Thursday, while raising corn, soybean, and wheat ending stocks.

Tuesday’s release of the World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimates report did little to shake up commodity markets as the figures in it were largely unchanged from the previous month’s estimates.

Corn production increases offset by harvested acre reductions provided a relatively neutral World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report Friday giving grain traders a sense of relief.

USDA’s World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report fell in line with trade expectations when it lowered corn ending stocks as producers struggle with a challenging harvest.

Corn futures contracts ended the day sharply lower after Department of Agriculture officials raised 2019/2020 corn yield estimates while lowering soybean yield estimates in the World Agricultural Supply and Demand report Thursday.

USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service lowered its production estimates for corn, soybeans and cotton, bumping corn down to 13.8 billion bushels and soybeans to 3.63 billion bushels, which each represent 1% declines from the August estimate.

USDA is cutting its estimates of U.S. corn and soybean acreage after resurveying farmers and doing further analysis of areas of the Midwest hit hard by heavy rains this spring. 

July reports from the Department of Agriculture offered little surprise to traders, including when USDA stuck with the much-maligned June Acreage report data.