 
March 08, 2004
SOYBEANS: STILL LOTS OF UNCERTAINTY
The 2003-04 soybean marketing year
has just passed the half-way point. Historically, much of the uncertainty
about demand and potential consumption of soybeans for the year
has been eliminated at this juncture. That is not the case this
year.
The pattern of U.S. soybean exports and export sales has been somewhat
unusual this year. Extremely large sales and shipments early in
the year were fueled by the Chinese buying binge. As of February
26, the USDA reported that China had imported 285 million bushels
of U.S. soybeans during the current marketing year, 29 percent more
than during the same period last year. Unshipped sales to China
as of February 26, however, were reported at only 12 million bushels
compared to outstanding sales of 38 million bushels on the same
date last year. Net sales to all destinations for the last two reporting
weeks totaled -1.2 million bushels.
Cumulative export inspections to all destinations through March
4 were reported at 715.7 million bushels, compared to 796.1 million
bushels at the same time last year. Cumulative inspections 10 weeks
ago were 10 percent larger than inspections of the previous year,
but are now 10 percent less. Cumulative exports reported in the
USDA's Export Sales report totaled 725 million bushels as of February
26, 4 percent less than reported a year ago.
The recent slow down in the U.S. soybean export program suggests
that exports for the year will in fact be down from those of a year
ago, as projected by the USDA. The USDA marketing year export projection
is currently at 900 million bushels, nearly 14 percent less than
exports during the 2003-04 marketing year. Some expect that projection
to be lowered in the USDA March 10 monthly update of world supply
and consumption projections.
The pattern of the U.S. domestic crush so far this year has also
been somewhat unusual. Because of the small U.S. harvest in 2003,
the available supplies of soybeans for domestic processing this
year are significantly less than supplies of a year ago. The USDA
has projected a 10 percent decline in the domestic crush for the
year. For the first five months of the 2003-04 marketing year, monthly
crush was larger than that of a year ago in September, smaller in
October, about unchanged in November, smaller in December, and larger
in January. Cumulative crush through January was 0.6 percent larger
than crush of last year. The larger crush appears to be driven by
soybean meal demand. Based on the estimate of month-end meal stocks
at processing plants, consumption of meal from October 2003 through
January 2004 was about 0.1 percent less than during the same four
months last year. In contrast, apparent soybean oil consumption
was down 8.5 percent. In addition, the large January crush resulted
in a large increase in month ending stocks of soybean oil.
If the marketing year crush is to be 10 percent less than that of
last year, the crush during the last 7 months of the year will have
to be down nearly 18 percent. If exports fall short of the current
projection of 900 million bushels, more bushels will be available
for domestic crush. A 25 million bushel shortfall in exports, however,
would still require a 15 percent reduction in the domestic crush
during the last 7 months of the year. The timing and pattern of
that decline will be important for prices, potential imports, and
decisions by end users of meal and oil. The longer the reduction
in crush is delayed, the more abrupt the required adjustment by
market participants.
In addition to demand uncertainty, the market will continue to
react to changing prospects for the size of the current South American
harvest. Last month, the USDA projected that crop at 3.75 billion
bushels. A dry end to the growing season in parts of Brazil and
Argentina, along with rain damaged crops in parts of northern Brazil,
likely reduced the crop size significantly. A variety of forecasters
expect the crop to be 150 to 220 million bushels less than the current
USDA forecast. The USDA forecast will be updated on March 10.
Finally, the market will be anticipating and reacting to the USDA's
March 31 Prospective Plantings report which will reveal U.S. producer
intentions for soybean acreage in 2004. Over the past month, the
price of November 2004 futures increased by $1.00 per bushel and
increased more rapidly than December 2004 corn futures. How much
will relative crop prices and recent yield experiences impact producer
planting decisions? The direction of change, as well as magnitude
of change, in U.S. soybean acreage could have significant price
implications.
It appears that soybean prices could continue to be very volatile
for an extended period of time as the market reacts to a variety
of fundamental factors. In addition, rumors about export demand,
export cancellations, and potential imports of meal and oil could
contribute to the volatility. Even with the price uncertainty, new
crop soybean futures are now high enough for producers to start
the 2004 marketing program.
Issued by Darrel Good
Extension Economist
University of Illinois
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