Soybeans Slide on Expectation U.S. Farmers Expanded Planting

Soybean prices fell in Chicago on speculation that U.S. supplies will be ample after farmers expanded planting this season and as most crops are now developing in good condition, reported agweb.com.

The U.S. soybean crop was rated 73% in good or excellent shape as of June 15, the best for the date since at least 1987, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said. Farmers told the government in March that they intended to plant a record 81.5 million acres of soybeans.

“The weather still is good” and that will help yields, said Matt Ammermann, a risk management consultant at INTL FCStone. The USDA’s next acreage report “will be slightly supportive on corn and bearish on beans, because farmers probably planted a little more beans than what we thought.”

Soybeans for delivery in November fell 0.5% to $12.21 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade. Corn for December delivery dropped 0.5% to $4.4525 a bushel. U.S. soybean area may be near 83 million acres, according to Dale Durchholz, a senior market analyst at AgriVisor LLC in Bloomington, Illinois. Farmers planned to reduce corn planting this season by 3.9% to 91.7 million acres, the USDA said in March. The USDA is scheduled to release its quarterly estimate on U.S. grain stockpiles on June 30.