The current wet weather system in the Midwest could benefit US soybeans in the coming days, the US Department of Agriculture said June 18.
Showers and thunderstorms across the upper Midwest, from Minnesota to Nebraska, are generally benefiting soybeans, the USDA said. In the coming days, as a cooler pattern develops across the country's mid-section, widespread showers and thunderstorms will occur -- totaling 1-3 inches or more -- from the southern Plains into the Upper Midwest, it said.
The country's Midwest region, which produces over 90% of total US soybeans, had been reeling from dry conditions since last week, sources said. As a result, soy farmers were had concerns over drought in certain pockets of the Midwest.
However, the recent wet weather across the Midwest should boost the emergence soybeans and aid crop conditions.
So far, 81% of the planted soybeans have emerged, compared with 49% a year ago and a 75% five-year average, the USDA data from June 15 showed. Soybean crop conditions were rated 72% good to excellent, 2 percentage points ahead of last year, the USDA said.
US farmers have planted 93% of the intended soybean acreage of 83.5 million acres for 2020-21 marketing year through June 14, up 21 percentage points year on year and 5 percentage points above the five-year average, according to USDA data from June 15.
The 2020-21 marketing year runs from September 2020 to August 2021.
US soybean output is projected at 112 million mt for 2020-21, up 16% year on year, assuming no severe weather disruptions, the USDA said in its June report.
