US wheat stocks at 1.02 billion bu as of March 1, down 22% on year: USDA

US wheat stocks on March 1 were at 1.02 billion bushels, 22% lower on the year, the US Department of Agriculture said March 31, in its Quarterly Grain Stocks report.

Of the total stocks, 174 million bushels were stored on farms, down 39% on the year, while off-farm stocks at 850 million bushels were down 17% from a year ago, the USDA said in its report.

In its previous report released in December, the USDA said wheat stocks in the country were reported to be at 1.39 billion bushels.

"The December 2021-February 2022 indicated disappearance is 353 million bushels, 10 percent below the same period a year earlier," the USDA added.

Of the total wheat stocks, durum wheat stocks totaled at 29.7 million bushels, down 30% on the year as of March 1.

According to the report, 12.6 million bushels of durum wheat were stored on farms, down 30% on the year, while off-farm stocks at 17.1 million bushels were down 44% from a year ago.

The states with the largest wheat stocks were Kansas, with 234.4 million bushels, North Dakota with 131.7 million bushels, and Oklahoma with 103.4 million bushels.

The most-active May Chicago soft red winter wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade initially rose to $10.47/bushel March 31 as of 1630 GMT, up 2% since the previous close.

2022-23 total wheat planting seen up 1%

The US wheat acreage for 2022-23 marketing year (June-May) has been estimated at 47.4 million acres, up 1% from the 2021-22, the USDA said March 31 in its Prospective Planting report.

The acreage estimate is projected to be the fifth-lowest of all wheat planted area since 1919, the report said.

In the top producing states of Kansas and North Dakota wheat acreage in 2022-23 was seen at 7.4 million acres and 6.3 million acres, respectively.

For 2022-23, the winter wheat planted area was estimated at 34.2 million acres, up 2% from last year. Of this, about 23.7 million acres are Hard Red Winter wheat, 6.9 million acres are Soft Red Winter wheat, and 3.6 million acres are White Winter wheat.

For spring wheat, area expected to be planted was projected at 11.2 million acres, down 2% on the year. The USDA estimated hard red spring wheat plantings at 10.5 million acres.

Plantation area of durum wheat for 2022-23 is expected to total at 1.9 million acres, a sharp 17% up on the year.