In a market, a situation where quantity supplied exceeds quantity demanded is known as a surplus.

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When the quantity supplied exceeds the quantity demanded, sellers have more goods than buyers want at the current price. This is a surplus: there is excess supply in the market. It happens because the price is above the level that clears the market, so producers are willing to produce and offer more than buyers are willing to purchase. As a result, inventories build up and there’s downward pressure on price until the surplus is eliminated and the market reaches equilibrium.

This isn’t a shortage, which is the opposite situation where demand outstrips supply. Excess demand is another way to describe a shortage, not a surplus. A demand shift describes a change in buyers’ willingness to purchase at every price, which would move the entire demand curve, not describe a price-level surplus.