WASHINGTON – Ending stocks of wheat on May 31 2021 were projected at 942 million bus in data published July 10 by the US Department of Agriculture.

The forecast was 17 million bus, or 1.8%, larger than the June forecast but down 10% from 1,044 million bus in 2020. The 2020 carryover, in turn, was 61 million bus larger than projected in June.

Largely offsetting this increase in 2020-21 beginning stocks was a cut of 53 million bus in the projected US wheat crop size for 2020. The change reflected the larger-than-anticipated wheat stocks announced a week earlier by the USDA.

In its initial projections for wheat by class for 2020-21, the Department said the hard red winter carryover in 2021 would be 19% smaller than this year; hard red spring, down 3.6%; soft red winter, down 1.9%; white wheat, up 11%; and durum down 7%.