The International Grains Council (IGC) has released its balance sheet projections for the 2023-24 marketing year. The IGC is predicting total world grain production at 2.282 billion metric tons this year compared to 2.25 billion metric tons in 2022-23. 

Grain consumption is also forecast to increase from 2.26 billion metric tons to 2.288 billion metric tons, cutting ending stocks to 580 million metric tons. Global corn production is expected to be nearly equal to usage at 1.2 billion metric tons. 

Wheat production for the 2023-24 year is estimated at 787 million metric tons, down from last year's 801 million metric tons due to the loss of Black Sea crops. 

A concern that is starting to be more of a market factor is the reduction in the global market share that the U.S. supplies.  

The United States used to be the world’s...