Corn and soybean prices to rise as USDA resumes operations

Commodity Economist Alan Suderman suspects that corn and soybean prices have long since bottomed out this year. Soybean prices, in particular, reached a low of $9.60 per bushel in early August but peaked at $11.58 per bushel in early November, when the USDA’s global agricultural supply and demand reports were suspended. While USDA data has not yet been updated—and won’t be fully updated for several months due to funding cuts—the agency’s November report lowered U.S. soybean production by 1 million tons and corn production by 62 million bushels compared to the last report in September. Traders had expected these declines because the optimistic September harvest data was likely understated. Drought and plant diseases plagued parts of the U.S. in the final weeks of the growing season, which also contributed to higher corn and soybean prices. But soybean prices rose particularly in response to President Donald Trump’s social media posts suggesting that a trade deal with China would ...