U.S. Soybean Inventories at Record Levels

U.S. soybean supplies as of Dec. 1 were the biggest on record as demand for the oilseed fizzled amid a trade war between the United States and China, the U.S. Agriculture Department said on Friday.

USDA also trimmed its forecast of the U.S. soybean crop harvested last fall to 4.544 billion bushels from its previous estimate of 4.600 billion bushels.

Soybean stocks as of Dec. 1 stood at 3.736 billion bushels. That compares with 3.161 billion bushels a year earlier, which had been the record. Analysts had expected soybean stocks of 3.743 billion bushels, according to the average of estimates in a Reuters poll.

Corn stocks as of Dec. 1 fell to 11.952 billion bushels from 12.567 billion bushels a year earlier, below the average forecast for 12.092 billion bushels.

Dec. 1 wheat stocks were 1.999 billion bushels, up from the year-earlier figure of 1.873 billion bushels. Analysts had expected wheat stocks of 1.957 billion bushels.

Reporting by Mark Weinraub