Soybeans drop to seven-week low
Monday, 14 September 2009
NEW YORK, Sept. 13(Bloomberg): Soybeans fell to a seven-week low after the US government said farmers will harvest a record crop this year and stockpiles will rise.
Production will reach an estimated 3.245 billion bushels, up 1.4 per cent from 3.199 billion projected in August and 9.7 per cent more than last year, the Department of Agriculture said today in a report. Inventories before next year's harvest will rise to 220 million bushels, from an estimated 110 million on Aug. 31, a 32-year low, the USDA said.
"It's a record crop and it could get even larger," said Anne Frick, a Prudential Bache Commodities LLC senior oilseeds analyst in New York. "I would expect upward revisions in acreage and yield."
Soybean futures for November delivery plunged 23.5 cents, or 2.5 per cent, to $9.03 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, after earlier touching $8.975, the lowest price since July 22. The most-active contract fell 2.1 per cent this week, the second straight decline, and is down 7.9 per cent this year.
The national average yield is forecast at 42.3 bushels an acre, compared with 41.7 bushels estimated in August and 39.6 bushels a year ago. Farmers harvested a record 43.1 bushels an acre in 2005.
About 76.8 million acres will be harvested, the USDA said, unchanged from its August estimate. Harvested acreage will be 98.8 per cent of the planted area, according to the report, compared with the average of 98.5 per cent since 2000.
The government left unchanged its yield estimates from a month ago for Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota, the three biggest producers of the oilseed.
The USDA may raise those estimates if the crops escape freeze damage in September, said Bill Nelson, a senior economist at Doane Advisory Services Co. in St. Louis. "People are feeling more comfortable the US may produce 3.3 billion bushels," he said.
Soybeans, valued at $27.4 billion last year, are the second-largest US crop, behind corn, government data show.
Production will reach an estimated 3.245 billion bushels, up 1.4 per cent from 3.199 billion projected in August and 9.7 per cent more than last year, the Department of Agriculture said today in a report. Inventories before next year's harvest will rise to 220 million bushels, from an estimated 110 million on Aug. 31, a 32-year low, the USDA said.
"It's a record crop and it could get even larger," said Anne Frick, a Prudential Bache Commodities LLC senior oilseeds analyst in New York. "I would expect upward revisions in acreage and yield."
Soybean futures for November delivery plunged 23.5 cents, or 2.5 per cent, to $9.03 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, after earlier touching $8.975, the lowest price since July 22. The most-active contract fell 2.1 per cent this week, the second straight decline, and is down 7.9 per cent this year.
The national average yield is forecast at 42.3 bushels an acre, compared with 41.7 bushels estimated in August and 39.6 bushels a year ago. Farmers harvested a record 43.1 bushels an acre in 2005.
About 76.8 million acres will be harvested, the USDA said, unchanged from its August estimate. Harvested acreage will be 98.8 per cent of the planted area, according to the report, compared with the average of 98.5 per cent since 2000.
The government left unchanged its yield estimates from a month ago for Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota, the three biggest producers of the oilseed.
The USDA may raise those estimates if the crops escape freeze damage in September, said Bill Nelson, a senior economist at Doane Advisory Services Co. in St. Louis. "People are feeling more comfortable the US may produce 3.3 billion bushels," he said.
Soybeans, valued at $27.4 billion last year, are the second-largest US crop, behind corn, government data show.