American Farm Bureau Federation Senior Economist Todd Davis says the latest World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report carried significant news on the corn side. The 2012 U.S. corn crop is projected at 14.8-billion bushels. That is 2.4-billion bushels more than the 2011 harvest – and would set a new record if realized. The current record – set in 2009 – is 13.09-billion bushels. The 2012 corn yield is pegged at 166-bushels per acre. Davis says that’s due to the rapid pace of planting and crop emergence. Corn demand is up too. Feed use is projected up 900-million bushels and exports are expected to increase by 200-million bushels. Davis says the production will outpace that stronger demand – which will likely result in lower prices. But he says it’s those prices that will help fuel the robust demand at home and abroad.

Davis says 2012-13 ending stocks for the domestic corn supply will be at 1.88-billion bushels – an increase of more than a billion bushels. The stocks-to-use ratio is projected to increase to 13.7-percent – the largest since 2009-10. The U.S. marketing-year average price is forecast to drop to $4.60 per bushel. That is sharply lower than the 2011-12 price of $6.10 per bushel.

According to Davis – there was a little surprise in the May WASDE report. He says ending stocks of last year’s corn crop was increased by 50-million bushels. Pre-report estimates had projected a decline in stocks because of stronger demand. According to the report – the demand never materialized because the amount of corn used for feed was reduced by 50-million bushels to reflect a greater use of wheat in feed rations.