Wilmington Bulk LLC, a consortium of North Carolina poultry and swine producers including Smithfield Foods, has purchased between 100,000 and 200,000 tons of Western Canadian feed wheat
According to Reuters, strong demand from U.S. ethanol producers has driven corn stocks to a 15-year low, while Canada has more feed wheat than usual after excessive rain last year and untimely frost.
The development was not a welcome development for U.S. wheat producers who also contended this week with a bearish USDA report on global supply and demand.
USDA officials kept estimates for U.S. corn ending stocks even with last month, while increasing the numbers for world stocks. Though domestic supplies were considered tight, global corn stockpiles were pronounced adequate. Oilseeds received the same judgment as corn. Estimates for domestic soybean ending stocks in March remained unchanged while the peg for global stocks moved slightly higher.
USDA also called global and domestic wheat stocks adequate. World ending stocks for the small grain grew by 2 percent over February because of higher production numbers, while domestic wheat ending stocks were projected slightly higher due to reduced exports.
The market digested the news, trended slightly downward and moved on as the trade awaits the prospective plantings report due at the end of the month.