The International Grains Council (IGC) has adjusted down its estimate for global soybean production as adverse weather in South America has caused concern for harvests. Global soybean output for the 2013/14 season will be 284 million tons, down 1.4% from the IGC’s January estimate of 288 million tons. The estimate for Brazil’s output fell 2.5% to 88 million tons and Argentina’s crop is expected to be 53.5 million tons – down 1.8% from previous estimates. Despite the IGC and Oil World both reducing their estimates for Brazilian production, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Brazil’s Conab both still maintain the production estimates of 90 million tons. By the end of the 2012/14 season, the IGC forecasts that global soybean inventories will be 27 million tons making the end-of-season fairly tight as China’s imports are expected to climb 15% from a year earlier to reach 68.5 million tons. The IGC maintains its estimate for global corn production at 959 million tons for 2013/14 with end-of-season inventories of 154 million tons, down from its January estimate of 158 million tons. Global production of wheat for 2013/14 will be 708 million tons however the UGC predicts that global wheat production for the 2014/15 season will retract to 696 million tons as producing countries return to more normal levels of production.
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