As of March 31, total stocks of wheat, canola, corn for grain, barley and oats had returned to levels comparable to those seen in the years prior to 2014 at the same date, as 2014 stocks at March 31 reflected a bumper harvest from 2013. Meanwhile, total stocks of soybeans increased from one year earlier.
Total wheat stocks decreased 25.1% from the same date a year earlier to 16.7 million tonnes on March 31. This decline was driven by stocks held on farms, which were down 31.4% to 12.3 million tonnes, while commercial stocks remained relatively stable, up 1.0% to 4.4 million tonnes.Provincially, Saskatchewan farm stocks declined 34.7% to 6.4 million tonnes, while stocks held on Alberta farms were down 20.5% from the 2014 record to 4.4 million tonnes.
Total canola stocks fell 18.9% from the March 31 record high set in 2014 to 7.0 million tonnes. Canola stocks held on farms were down 25.6% from the same date a year earlier to 5.4 million tonnes. On-farm stocks in both Saskatchewan (-31.2%) and Alberta (-17.7%) fell from their 2014 record levels. Commercial stocks rose 17.5%from the same date a year earlier to a record 1.6 million tonnes on March 31, 2015.
Following a 19.1% production decrease in 2014, total stocks of corn for grain at March 31, 2015, posted a similar decline, down 18.9% to 6.5 million tonnes. The overall drop was split between stocks held on farms, which fell 18.9% to 4.9 million tonnes, and commercial stocks, which decreased 19.2% to 1.6 million tonnes.
Overall soybean stocks were up 45.4% from March 31, 2014, to a record high 2.1 million tonnes. Stocks held on farms increased 12.2% to 1.1 million tonnes, reflecting the 12.9% production increase in 2014. Meanwhile,commercial stocks more than doubled (+121.6%) compared with the same date in 2014, to a record high 953 000 tonnes.
Total stocks of barley declined by 23.4% to 3.4 million tonnes as of March 31, 2015. This decrease was the result of declines in both on-farm stocks (-23.6%) and commercial stocks (-22.1%).
Total stocks of oats were down 27.2% to 1.6 million tonnes as of March 31, 2015. On-farm stocks drove the overall decline, falling 29.1%.