CHICAGO -- Corn inventories in the United States, the world's largest grower and exporter, may jump to a three-year high after a surge in planting and record yields this season lead to the biggest harvest ever, the government said.
Reserve supplies will more than double to 1.881 billion bushels by Aug. 31, 2013, before the harvest, from a 16-year low of 851 million projected for this year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday in a report. The average estimate of 32 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News was 1.686 billion. The USDA in February forecast 1.616 billion bushels.
With farmers projected to plant the most acres since 1937, production will jump 20 percent to a record 14.79 billion bushels, the USDA said. Corn futures have tumbled 14 percent in the past year, reducing costs for companies including hog- processor Smithfield Foods and ethanol makers such as Archer Daniels Midland Co.
"U.S. supplies will be burdensome amid adequate world inventories," said Don Roose, the president of U.S. Commodities Inc. in West Des Moines, Iowa. "Only adverse weather this year will be a hurdle to rebuilding inventories and keeping downward pressure on prices."
In a survey released in March, U.S. farmers indicated they would sow 95.864 million acres (38.8 million hectares) with corn this year, up 4.3 percent from a year earlier. That crop will be harvested in the marketing year that starts Sept. 1.
