Canadian Grain Stocks Drop
OTTAWA - Feb 4/15 - SNS -- Grain and oilseeds stocks were down from year earlier levels on December 31, 2014, according to the latest stocks in all positions report from Statistics Canada.
Based on a survey of 8,683 farmers across Canada between January 2 and 12 and data gathered by the Canadian Grain Commission, the survey discovered that with the exception of soybeans, inventories of all major grains and oilseeds were lower.
Total stocks of wheat decreased 13.5% from December 31, 2013, to 24.8 million metric tons (MT), following a 22.0% decrease in wheat production in 2014. On-farm stocks totalled 20.8 million MT, down 17.8% from the record high of 25.3 million MT in 2013. On the other hand, commercial stocks were up 19.6% to 4.0 million MT.
Total stocks of corn for grain totalled 9.7 million MT on December 31, 2014, down 16.6% from the record level of 11.6 million MT at December 31, 2013. This decline resulted from a 16.2% decrease in on-farm stocks and an 18.0% drop in commercial stocks.
Total stocks of oats fell 12.7% from December 31, 2013, to 2.5 million MT on December 31, 2014, with on-farm stocks down 13.3% to 2.3 million MT. Commercial stocks declined 4.7% to 177 300 MT.
Barley stocks decreased 20.3% from December 31, 2013, to 5.4 million MT on December 31, 2014. The decline was mostly due to a 21.6% drop in on-farm stocks to 5.1 million MT.
Canola Down, Soybeans Up
Overall canola stocks stood at 11.1 million MT as of December 31, 2014, down 10.5% from December 31, 2013. On-farm stock levels fell 13.9% to 9.9 million MT, closely reflecting the 13.4% drop in production in 2014. Commercial stock levels rose 32.8% over the same period to 1.2 million MT.
Overall soybean stocks rose 29.4% from December 31, 2013, to a record 3.5 million MT on December 31, 2014, surpassing the previous high of 2.8 million MT reported on December 31, 2011. Commercial stocks rose 57.1% to 1.2 million MT, while stocks held on farms increased 18.0% to 2.3 million MT.
The December Farm Survey of 8,683 Canadian farms is a survey of stocks of principal field crops conducted from January 2 to 12, 2015. Farmers were asked to report the amounts of grain, oilseeds and special crops in on-farm storage. Similar to the Farm Survey conducted in March 2014, two additional questions were asked during the December Farm Survey, pertaining to permanent on-farm grain storage capacity and the percentage of grain stored on farms using temporary storage methods. Such grain storage capacity estimates will be available upon request as of February 19.
Data on commercial stocks of western major crops originate from the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC). Starting August 1, 2013, however, the CGC changed its reporting to exclude "in transit" stocks from the total commercial stocks. In general, the "in transit" stocks represent up to 1% of total stocks depending on the crop. In the next release of Stocks of Principle Field Crops at March 31, 2015, to be released on May 6, an adjustment to account for the treatment of "in transit" stocks will be made retroactively.
Estimates for commercial stocks of corn and soybeans are derived from a Statistics Canada sample of grain elevators in Eastern Canada. Data on commercial stocks of special crops originate from a survey of handlers and agents of special crops.
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