US: Soybean futures soar

U.S. soybean futures rose overnight on worries about harvests in drought-hit Argentina. Very dry weather in the South American country restricts production for most of the growing season.

Argentina is expected to produce 25 million metric tons of soybeans in the 2022-2023 marketing year, up from 43.9 million tons a year earlier, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a statement earlier this month. Recent rains may have helped the harvest, but could not compensate for the dry months.

Juan Luciano, chief executive of Archer-Daniels-Midland, or ADM, said this week after the company reported earnings that soybeans will be crushed in Argentina by the end of November.

Prices could rise overnight on continued signs of demand for supply in the US. China bought 110,000 metric tons of soybeans for delivery in the 2023-2024 marketing year, the USDA said yesterday. On Wednesday, the agency reported 126,000 metric tons of U.S. grain sold separately to China.

• Demand is also supporting corn prices, as the USDA reported earlier this week that Mexico bought 117,200 tons from North American suppliers. Since the start of the marketing year on Sept. 1, USDA has inspected 7.89 million metric tons of soybeans for export, up from 7.64 million in the same period a year earlier. Corn tests since early September now stand at 4.4 million metric tons, up from 3.77 million in the same period last year, the agency said.