WASHINGTON — The spring deluge in the Midwest and Great Plains spurred a cut in the U.S. forecast for soybean acreage, a bigger reduction than analysts expected.
Planting this season was pegged at 80 million acres, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Friday in a report. Analysts in a Bloomberg survey expected 84.7 million.
Before the USDA report, traders said the acreage projections may be revised lower again. The agency’s survey of farmers in the first two weeks of June occurred before planting plans were final or seeding concluded.
Through Thursday, futures for November delivery on the Chicago Board of Trade fell 3.8 percent from a three-month high of $9.48 a bushel on June 18, partly amid muted demand from China amid the trade war and ample supplies from Brazil, the world’s top exporter.
On Friday, U.S. exporters reported a sale of 544,000 metric tons of soybeans to China, the biggest deal by the Asian nation in three months.
