The USDA’s Crop Production report reduced the forecast production of soybean and sunflower seed due to dry and hot conditions in August.

USDA’s forecast of the 2020/21 average farm price is raised to $9.25 per bushel from $8.35 last month. Higher values are anticipated for soybean meal and soybean oil, also. Price forecasts for 2020/21 are raised by $25 per short ton to $315 for soybean meal and by two cents per pound to 32 cents for soybean oil.

Global soybean production for 2020/21 is forecast at 369.7 million metric tons, down 660,000 tons from last month. Output losses for the United States and Ukraine are seen more than offsetting larger expected crops for Brazil, Canada and India. Compared with a year ago, soybean prices in Brazil have soared by nearly two-thirds.

Brazilian farmers in the north and northeast of the country, regions dominated by the Amazon rainforest and Cerrado savanna, are expected to expand their soy fields by more than 6% in the 2020/21 crop season, the fastest rate in four years, according to Reuters.

Global sunflower seed production for 2020/21 is forecast 1.8 tons lower this month to 54 million. The common denominator for reductions in expected sunflower seed yields for Ukraine, Russia and Moldova is hot and dry conditions during August. In Ukraine, sunflower seed output could be decreased by 500,000 tons to 17 million, although this still represents an all-time high.

Download the report here.