Estimates for 2009-10 South America crops take an upturn 

A private analytical firm said Wednesday (Feb 3) it expects bigger South American soy and corn crops than it did last month.

Informa Economics pegged Brazil's soy crop at 66.5 million tonnes, up 500,000 tonnes from its estimate last month, traders said. It estimated Argentina's soy crop at 54 million tonnes, up one million tonnes from last month, it said.

Traders have been expecting South America to produce a blockbuster soy crop and to take export demand away from the US. The estimate for a larger Brazilian crop may be weighing on Chicago Board of Trade soy futures a bit, but "people have bigger numbers" than Informa's estimate already, a floor trader said.

The USDA last month estimated Brazil's soy crop at 65 million tonnes and Argentina's crop at 53 million.

Informa raised its estimate for Argentina's 2009-2010 corn crop by 2.7 million tonnes from last month to 18.2 million tonnes, traders said. It projected Brazil's corn crop at 53.3 million tonnes, up 600,000 tonnes from last month.

The USDA in January put Argentina's corn crop at 15 million and Brazil's corn crop at 51 million.