Friendly report for soybeans

Tuesday’s USDA report was friendly for soybeans even though a negative report was expected.

USDA lowered soybean yields slightly in the report.

“They did raise bean ending stocks up to 340 million bushels. That’s up 20 from last month,” explained Aaron Curtis of MIDCO on the CIFN Midday Update Tuesday.

The market was expecting about a 40-million-bushel increase. There was strong bean price reaction right after the report was issued Tuesday morning before prices settled back.

Corn didn’t have too many changes although USDA did raise yields slightly and production was about what everyone expected.

“Ending stocks came in pretty close to where they were last month,” noted Curtis.

Corn and wheat were mainly higher on Tuesday in connection with the stronger soybean market.

As our growers in the U.S. still try to conclude harvest, conditions in South America are looking good as their planting progress is moving along rather quickly. There could be a few beans harvested in Brazil during late December which is early. In fact, there could be record corn and soybean crops for Brazil. This has cast a negative shadow over soybean prices lately.

“That’s something the market is going to have to contend with here next spring,” added Curtis.

USDA-NASS released information on Illinois Crop Production Tuesday.

Corn planted area is estimated at 11.0 million acres, down 3 percent from last year. Harvested area, forecast at 10.8 million acres, is down 3 percent from 2020. Based on November 1 conditions, the Illinois corn yield is forecast at 207 bushels per acre, up 16 bushels from 2020. Production is forecast at 2.24 billion bushels, up 5 percent from last year’s production.

Soybeans planted area is estimated at 10.60 million acres, up 3 percent from last year. Harvested area, forecast at 10.55 million acres, is up 3 percent from 2020. Based on November 1 conditions, the Illinois soybean yield is forecast at a record 64 bushels per acre, up 4 bushels from 2020. Production is forecast at a record 675 million bushels, up 10 percent from 2020.