US corn stocks as of March 1 stood at 7.95 billion bushels, down 8% on year: USDA

New Delhi — US corn stocks totaled 7.95 billion bushels (201.99 million mt) on March 1, 8% below the figure a year earlier, US Department of Agriculture said in its quarterly grain stocks report, which was released Tuesday.

The figure was also below the average market expectations of 8.1 billion bushels, but within the range of S&P Global Platts Analytics' estimate of 7.9-7.95 billion bushels.

Of those corn stocks, 4.45 billion bushels were stored on farms and 3.5 billion bushels were at off-farm facilities such as mills, elevators, warehouses, terminals and processors, according to USDA.

"The December 2019 - February 2020 indicated disappearance is 3.45 billion bushels, compared with 3.32 billion bushels during the same period last year," it said in the report.

The states with the largest corn stocks were Iowa, with 1.519 billion bushels, Illinois with 1.266 billion bushels, Nebraska with 993,613 million bushels and Minnesota with 866,622 million bushels.

The US is the largest producer and exporter of corn. Corn is the primary feedstock for ethanol production in the country.