With a rebound in U.S. production, the world soybean crop will be a record 364 million tonnes in 2020/21, up 8 percent from this season, said the International Grains Council on Thursday. Record-setting corn and wheat crops were also forecast for 2020/21 and would contribute to the first increase of global stocks in four years.
Record global production of soybeans would be accompanied by record-large exports, so that the soybean stockpile would rise by only 1 million tonnes. Brazil was forecast to harvest a record crop for the second year in a row. The IGC forecast for Brazil, 129.4 million tonnes, is slightly smaller than the USDA’s latest estimate of 131 million tonnes. The IGC and the USDA say the U.S. crop will top 112 million tonnes.
Those estimates of the U.S. crop are based on farmers’ planting intentions in early March. Since then, soybean prices have strengthened. Traders expect a June survey of growers by the USDA will show an increase of 1.2 million acres in soybean plantings, to 84.7 million acres, which could increase the soybean crop by 1.5 million tonnes. The USDA is scheduled to release the acreage report on Tuesday.