In economics, a market situation in which sellers offer more than buyers want at the current price is called a surplus.
A surplus occurs when quantity supplied exceeds quantity demanded. Unsold inventories, empty seats, or excess agricultural output can all illustrate the idea. In a flexible market, sellers may respond by lowering prices, reducing production, or using promotions, which tends to move the market toward a point where planned buying and selling are equal.
A surplus is different from a shortage, where buyers want more than sellers offer. It is also different from consumer surplus and producer surplus: those are measures of gains from trade, while a market surplus is an imbalance between quantities at a particular price.
Price controls can keep a surplus in place. A binding price floor set above the market-clearing price, such as a supported minimum price, can encourage production while discouraging purchases. Whether a surplus disappears quickly depends on storage, government purchasing, contracts, and how rapidly prices can adjust.