CHICAGO: US soyabean and corn supplies in September will be smaller than previously forecast due to a reduced estimate of last fall’s harvest, the government said on Tuesday.

Concerns about tight supplies have pushed Chicago Board of Trade corn, soyabean and wheat futures to multi-year peaks in recent weeks and the new stocks view sent corn and soyabean prices soaring to fresh highs.

The US Agriculture Department pegged the 2020/21 domestic soyabean ending stocks outlook at 140 million bushels, down from its December forecast for 175 million, and corn ending stocks at 1.552 billion bushels, down from 1.702 billion in December.

Analysts had been expecting the government’s monthly supply an demand report to show soyabean stocks of 139 million bushels and corn stocks of 1.599 billion bushels, based on the average of estimates given in a Reuters poll.

US corn production for the 2020/21 marketing year was pegged at 14.182 billion bushels, based on an average yield of 172.0 bushels per acre and soyabean production was pegged at 4.135 billion bushels on a yield of 50.2.

USDA also lowered its forecast for the upcoming harvests in key export countries Brazil and Argentina, putting pressure on the global balance sheet as governments look to secure food supplies amid the raging COVID-19 pandemic that has disrupted the global supply chain.

Soyabean production in top producer Brazil was pegged at 133.00 million tonnes unchanged from the previous outlook. Brazil’s corn harvest was seen at 109.00 million tonnes.

In Argentina, where farmers have struggled with drought throughout the growing season, USDA predicted a soyabean harvest of 48.00 million tonnes and a corn harvest of 47.50 million tonnes.