ALTA VISTA, Iowa, Aug 24 (Reuters) – Soybean yield prospects were below three-year averages in eastern Iowa, crop scouts on an annual tour found on Thursday, a day after surveys found sharply lower potential in the western third of the country’s largest producer.
A smaller-than-anticipated although still-substantial harvest could temper slumping soy prices in the wake recent purchase of U.S. soybeans by China, the scouts said.
Iowa produced 13.2 percent of the national crop last year and lower state production would tighten 2017/18 ending stocks, currently projected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture at 475 million bushels.
“We can burn through 475 million bushels of beans in a hurry with the demand we’re seeing. If that drops below 400, the market could get really excited,” said Ted Seifried, analyst with Zaner Group and a scout on the tour.
USDA on Thursday said China bought 132,000 tonnes of U.S. soybeans, the latest in a string of such announcements this month.
Scouts on the four-day Farm Journal Midwest Crop Tour calculate the number of soybean pods in 3-foot-by-3-foot (91-cm-by-91-cm) plots to gauge yield potential.
Scouts on one route estimated the average soybean pod count in Johnson, Cedar and Scott counties at 1,119 pods, up from 1,089 pods in the same area last year but down from the three-year tour average of 1,160 pods.
Another route through Bremer and Chickasaw counties found an average of 1,005 pods per plot, down from 1,266 last year and the three-year average of 1,080 pods.
The findings came after scouts on Wednesday found smaller pod counts in western Iowa and in Illinois. The four-day tour through seven states wraps up later on Thursday in Minnesota.
Corn yields in eastern Iowa were projected to be slightly above average for the top producing state, despite periods of dry weather this summer, scouts said.
Scouts on the route through Johnson, Cedar and Scott counties estimated yields at 185.1 bushels per acre (bpa), down from 198 last year but above the 184 average for the area. The second route found an average yield of 190.6 bpa, above last year’s 188.7 and the tour average of 186.3 bpa. (Reporting by Karl Plume; Editing by Tom Brown)