August 13, 2008

USDA lowers '08 soy production

The US Department of Agriculture, in its first survey-based forecast of 2008, lowered its prediction for US soy production for this year to 2.973 billion bushels, down from the USDA's July forecast of 3 billion.

Although the new forecast is a 27-million-bushel drop from a month ago, it's still a substantial 15 percent increase from the 2.585 billion bushels of soy that farmers produced in 2007, the USDA said in its monthly supply and demand report.

"If realized, this will be the fourth largest (soy) production on record," the USDA said Tuesday (August 12) in a separate crop production report.

"Area for harvest in the US is forecast at 73.3 million acres, up 17 percent from 2007," the USDA said.