Soy-Stockpile Estimate Cut by USDA on Increased Domestic Use

June 10 (Bloomberg) -- Soybean inventories in the U.S., the world’s largest grower and exporter, will be lower than forecast last month because of increased domestic demand, the government said.

Stockpiles will total 185 million bushels at the end of the marketing year on Aug. 31, compared with 138 million a year earlier, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said today in a report. Last month, the USDA forecast 190 million bushels. An increase in the estimate for crushings to 1.74 billion bushels from 1.735 billion in May accounted for the difference.

“Beans are hard to come by,” said Mike Zuzolo, the president of Global Commodity Analytics in Lafayette, Indiana. The government report “answered the question about whether beans are actually out there or if farmers are just holding onto them,” Zuzolo said.

Analysts expected inventories would drop to 183.6 million bushels, based on 28 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. Stockpiles for the year ending Aug. 31, 2011, are seen at 360 million bushels, a decline from 365 million predicted in May, because of the revision to the 2010 forecast.

Soybean futures for July delivery rise 12.5 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $9.435 a bushel yesterday on the Chicago Board of Trade. The most-active contract has dropped 10 percent this year on forecasts for record crops in South America.