US SOYBEANS by Matthew Wilde ISA senior writer
58 | Milling and Grain
S
oybean buyers worldwide are on a spending spree, restocking supplies and propping up prices. But that soon could come to an end. A Des Moines risk management consultant advises farmers to sell now because US$10-plus soybeans, while nothing to write home about, may look good in months to come. “The market is short-term friendly and long-term bearish,” said Matt Campbell of INTL FC Stone. “I’m very much a believer in marketing old and new crop beans. They are overpriced.” Cash soybeans are more than $9.80 per bushel throughout much of the state. January beans on the Chicago Board of Trade closed at $10.33 per bushel on Monday. In anticipation of a record soybean crop and the highest carryout figure in years, many commodity analysts predicted prices would plummet to $8.50 per bushel or less during harvest. Record domestic and export demand prevented a free-fall. Eventually, Campbell said the buying frenzy will slow and large supplies will remain. He expects a price drop to occur, albeit later than original projections. “The bean market will start to fail in the next few months,” he said. The US soybean harvest is nearly complete, according to Monday’s weekly U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Crops