ST. PETE BEACH, FLA. — A survey of millers at division meetings of the North American Millers’ Association conference in St. Pete Beach forecast 2016 soft red winter wheat production up 1% from 2015 and soft white winter wheat production up 19%.
Soft wheat millers forecast U.S. 2016 soft red winter wheat production at 362,126,000 bus, up 3,071,000 bus, or 1%, from 359,055,000 bus in 2015.
By region, soft red winter wheat production was forecast to jump 25% from 2015 in Central states (Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and Wisconsin), with increases expected in all states but Michigan, and increase 5% in Mid-Atlantic states (Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania), with increases in all states. But production in 2016 was forecast to decrease 4% in the Midwest (Illinois, Missouri and Kentucky), with all states lower, drop 10% in the Southeast (Virginia and North and South Carolina), with the Carolinas lower but Virginia higher, and fall 16% in Southwest, South and Delta states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Texas), with all states but Florida and Georgia lower.
The millers also forecast 2016 soft white winter wheat production at 200,076,000 bus, up 31,770,000 bus, or 19%, from 2015 outturn of 168,306,000 bus, with the Pacific Northwest states of Idaho, Oregon and Washington accounting for 92% of this year’s total. Soft white winter wheat production included 183,171,000 bus forecast to be harvested in the Pacific Northwest, up 20% from last year, 16,428,000 bus in Michigan, up 22%, and 477,000 bus in the Mid-Atlantic states of New York and Pennsylvania, up 3%.
