US soybean crop conditions sharply worsen

The conditions of US soybean crops registered a sharp worsening between August 28 and September 3, continuing the deterioration registered in the previous two weeks. Three consecutive weeks of worsening conditions have now led national indices to be well below those registered at the same time last year, which indicates that the average productivity of US crops will probably be lower than last year’s.

According to USDA, as of September 3, 53% of US soybean crops were in good or excellent conditions, 30% in fair conditions, and 17% in poor or very poor conditions. In the previous week, the percentages were 58%, 28% and 14%, respectively. At the same time in 2022, the data pointed to 57% of crops in good or excellent conditions, 29% in fair conditions, and 14% in poor or very poor conditions.

The period between September 2 and 8 registered again low moisture over most of the main states in the US growing belt. Only spotty rainfall was registered in some states, without large accumulations. Furthermore, some states or micro-regions did not receive precipitation during the period. Given this situation, USDA may bring a further worsening of national indices in its next weekly report, which will be released this Monday (11).

Weather forecasts now point to a period of greater moisture over the main growing states between September 9 and 15, which could prevent further deterioration and even bring some improvement in crop conditions in some states.

In the period between September 16 and 22, moisture must keep reaching most of the belt, although the accumulations are expected to be a little lower.

Tags: soybean, US, crops, conditions