Following a particularly heavy decline in world ending stocks in 2011/12 (aggregate of respective local marketing years) to a three-year low of just 23m t, including a steep drop in major exporters, there was a modest recovery in 2012/13 and a further expansion is forecast for 2013/14. The rebound has been almost entirely driven by better outturns in Argentina and Brazil, more than offsetting a further decline in the US in 2012/13.