WASHINGTON – U.S. stocks of corn and soybeans stored in all positions on Dec. 1, 2012, both were down 17% from a year earlier while wheat stocks were down just slightly, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in its latest Grain Stocks report.

Dec. 1 corn stocks were estimated at 8,030,474,000 bus, down 17% from 9,646,823,000 bus a year earlier, the U.S.D.A. said. On farm stocks of corn totaled 4,586,000,000 bus on Dec. 1, down 26% from 6,175,000,000 bus a year earlier, while off-farm supplies were 3,444,474,000 bus, down 1% from 3,471,823,000 bus the prior year. Indicated disappearance of corn during the September-November period was 3.74 billion bus, down about 3% from 3.84 billion bus in the same period of 2011, the U.S.D.A. said.

Soybean stocks were estimated at 1,965,613,000 bus, down 17% from 2,369,885,000 bus a year earlier, the U.S.D.A. said. On-farm soybean stocks were 910,000,000 bus, down 20% from 1,139,000,000 bus on Dec. 1, 2011, while off-farm stocks totaled 1,055,613,000 bus, down 14% from 1,230,885,000 bus in 2011. Indicated disappearance during September-November was 1.22 billion bus, up 30% from the same period a year earlier.

Wheat stored in all positions on Dec. 1, 2012, totaled 1,659,855,000 bus, down slightly from 1,662,518,000 bus on Dec. 1, 2011, the U.S.DA. said. On-farm stocks of wheat were 399,500,000 bus, down 1% from 405,200,000 bus a year earlier, while off-farm stocks were 1,260,355,000 bus, up slightly from 1,257,318,000 bus the prior year. Indicated disappearance of wheat during the September-November period was 445 million bus, down 8% from the same period in 2011, the U.S.D.A. said.

Durum stocks were 61,006,000 bus, up 27% from 48,007,000 bus a year earlier. On-farm stocks of 36,700,000 bus were up 50% from 24,500,000 bus the previous year while off-farm stocks of 24,306,000 bus were up 3% from 23,507,000 bus in 2011. Indicated disappearance during the September-November period was 7.44 million bus, down 53% from a year earlier, the U.S.D.A. said.

The U.S.D.A. stocks numbers were below the averages of pre-report trade expectations of 1,674 million bus for wheat, 8,210 million bus for corn and 1,984 million bus for soybeans.