Soybean Estimate Matches Trade Ideas

WASHINGTON - Aug 10/07 - SNS -- Soybean production is forecast at 2.63 billion bushels, down 18% from last year's record high and down 14% from 2005, according to the USDA's latest crop production estimates.

The number is slightly below the average pre-report guess by traders. It came in at 2.6353 billion bushels, with traders' predictions ranging between 2.55 and 2.722 billion bushels.

Based on August 1 conditions, yields are expected to average 41.5 bushels per acre, down 1.2 bushels from last year. Yields are lower than 2006 throughout most of the Atlantic Coast States, most of the Corn Belt, and the Tennessee Valley, while yields are expected to remain unchanged or increase across the Great Plains, the Gulf Coast States, and Arkansas. Area for harvest, at 63.3 million acres, remains unchanged from June but is down 15% from 2006.

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