By Russell Blinch and Roberta Rampton
WASHINGTON, March 10 (Reuters) – Stockpiles of U.S. wheat and corn are forecast to be larger this year than traders had expected, a government report said in a report on Wednesday, noting sky-high wheat prices have trimmed demand. The Agriculture Department forecast U.S. wheat stocks of 843 million bushels at the end of the current marketing year, 3 percent above last month’s forecast, and 4 percent higher than average analyst forecasts. U.S. corn ending stocks were unchanged from last month at a razor-thin 675million bushels, but traders had expected a slight decline. The report could help stem surging crop prices, which recently have showed signs of peaks after sparking concerns about food inflation for governments around the world. Globally, wheat ending stocks were pegged at 181.9 million tonnes, up 2.3percent from last month’s estimate, and 2.4 percent above trade expectations. The USDA hiked Australia’s wheat crop by 4 percent from last month to 26million tonnes, and Argentina’s wheat crop up 7 percent to 15 million tonnes. Import demand from Russia was slashed 75 percent to 500,000 tonnes because of a controversial export ban. “Despite last year’s drought, Russia appears to be meeting its wheat needs as the government’s export ban helps maintain supplies for domestic users,” the USDA said. World corn stocks were also slightly higher than last month at 123.14million tonnes, which was 1.2 percent above what traders had forecast ahead of the report. Brazil’s corn production was 4 percent larger than traders had expected at53 million tonnes and Argentina’s crop 5.5 percent larger than expected at 22 million tonnes. The USDA left domestic soybean ending stocks unchanged from last month at140 million bushels. Analysts had expected 142 million bushels. World soy ending stocks also were slightly smaller than traders had anticipated ahead of the report, despite a record soybean crop of 70 million tonnes projected for Brazil.