WASDE

WASDE (World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates) is a monthly USDA report forecasting production, use, and ending stocks for major crops in the United States and worldwide.

The WASDE report is published monthly by the US Department of Agriculture and is one of the most closely watched releases in agricultural markets, because it lays out the department’s current estimates of production, consumption, trade, and ending stocks for major crops in the United States and around the world.

Traders position ahead of each release based on what analysts expect the numbers to show, then react sharply if the actual figures differ from those expectations, which is why grain futures can move significantly within seconds of a WASDE release. The report draws on the underlying PSD database along with the department’s own surveys and models, and its estimates are revised in later reports as more information about a growing season or a harvest becomes available.