Canadian corn stocks as of March 31 fell to a decade low, while soybean stockpiles hit the highest in five years.
Thursday’s Statistics Canada grain stocks report showed total national corn stocks at 7.197 million tonnes, down 13% from a year earlier and the lowest since March 31, 2015, at 6.289 million. In contrast, March 31 soybean stocks were pegged at 2.393 million tonnes, a year-over-year increase of nearly 11% and the heaviest since March 31, 2020.
StatsCan said corn stocks fell amid a more than 50% fall in imports to 1 million tonnes, combined with a doubling in exports to 1.4 million.
Soybean stocks were at least partially buoyed by a larger 2024 Canadian crop, up 8.4% on the year to 7.568 million tonnes.
National on-farm corn stocks as of March 31 decreased 8.5% compared with the same date in 2024, to 4.9 million tonnes, while commercial stocks fell 20.9% to 2.3 million.
On-farm soybean stocks rose 11.1% to 1.4 million tonnes, with commercial stocks up 10.6% to 988 000.
In the No. 1 production province of Ontario, on-farm corn stocks as of March 31 were reported at 2.433 million tonnes, down 10.7% from last year and the tightest for the date since 2007. On-farm soybean stocks in the province, at 610,000 tonnes, were little changed from 615,000 last year but still the lowest since March 31, 2017.
Manitoba on-farm corn stocks as of March 31 came in at 648,000 tonnes, a fall of 19% compared to a year earlier. On the other hand, Manitoba on-farm soybean stocks increased 68.8% on the year to 434,000 tonnes.
