Soybean Prices Rally As Indiana Harvest Winds Down

With Indiana’s grain harvest nearly finished, the soybean market is getting a last-minute boost from export demands in countries like China.

China buys almost two-thirds of the world’s soybeans every year, from two main markets in two different hemispheres.

“They buy aggressively from the United States in September, October, November, December; aggressively from South America in March, April, May and June,” says Purdue University agricultural economist Chris Hurt.

South America had a lackluster soybean harvest this year, thanks to bad weather.

So now, Hurt says American soybean prices are seeing a late-season rally, as China and others try to offset that shortage by buying more from the U.S.

But the rally may not last: Farmers in Indiana and other states are expected to plant even more soybeans in the coming years, to offset low grain prices.

Hurt says that means if South America has a good harvest next year, supply will be up, demand will be the same and prices will go down.

As of this week, Indiana’s soybeans are 91 percent harvested. Hoosier corn is just behind, at 87 percent.