(Businessweek) – Soybeans climbed as a slump to the lowest level in 18 months spurred demand before the U.S. Department of Agriculture updates its production estimates.
The contract for November delivery rose as much as 0.7 percent to $11.74 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade and was at $11.715 at 12:30 p.m. in Singapore. Futures fell to $11.625 yesterday, the lowest level since January 2012.
The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Index of eight agricultural commodities tumbled 19 percent this year as corn lost 34 percent and soybeans dropped 17 percent on expectations U.S. crops will be the biggest ever. The Department of Agriculture said in July that farmers may harvest a record 3.42 billion bushels of soybeans, helping boost world inventories 20 percent from a year earlier to an all-time high. The agency is set to update its output, supply and demand estimates on Aug. 12.
“You’ve got the USDA production and supply and demand reports so there’s probably a little bit of squaring up ahead of that,” said Brett Cooper, senior manager markets at FCStone Australia Pty. Corn and soybeans “have had a fair retracement since the previous report.”
The USDA said in July U.S. farmers may harvest a record 13.95 billion bushels of corn, 29 percent more than the prior year, when crops were hurt by drought.
China’s soybean imports may be 5.3 million metric tons this month, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on its website dated yesterday. U.S. exporters sold 220,000 tons of the oilseed to China, the world’s biggest buyer, for delivery in the year starting Sept. 1, the USDA said yesterday.
Corn for December delivery gained 0.6 percent to $4.6075 a bushel, rising for the first time in six days. Wheat for delivery in December rose 0.1 percent to $6.57 a bushel.
