Soybeans Rise on Weaker Dollar, Delayed Planting of U.S. Crop

June 16 (Bloomberg) -- Soybean prices rose for the first time in three sessions as the dollar’s decline boosts investor demand for commodities and farmers lag behind their normal pace for planting this year’s U.S. crop.

The U.S. Dollar Index fell as much as 1 percent, the first drop in three sessions. Yesterday, soybeans fell the most since Jan. 13 as the dollar index climbed. Farmers planted 87 percent of the U.S. crop as of June 14, down from the five-year average of 92 percent, the government said.

“Prices are up because of a weaker dollar,” said Charlie Sernatinger, a market analyst at Fortis Clearing Americas LLC in Chicago. “We still have almost 10 million acres of beans to put in the ground,” signaling yields may drop or farmers will abandon fields, he said.

Soybean futures for November delivery rose 3.75 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $10.285 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade. Yesterday, the contract plunged 4.8 percent. Futures for July delivery, before the harvest, rose 4.25 cents to $12.0125.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, after surveying growers, said on March 31 that planting would increase 0.4 percent to a record 76.024 million acres this year.

About 72 percent of the crop has emerged from the ground, compared with 83 percent on average in the past five years. An estimated 66 percent was in good or excellent condition as of June 14, the USDA said in its first rating of this year’s crop. A year earlier, 56 percent got the top rankings after flooding damaged plants in parts of the western Midwest.

Forgo Seeding

Farmers may forgo seeding because of planting delays in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky and Arkansas, said Nate Smith, a market analyst and broker for the Linn Group in Chicago.

“There are serious discussions among farmers that they might take crop insurance instead of planting a crop this year,” Smith said. “They fought so hard to get the corn crop planted that they may just idle some ground,” rather than risk planting in wet soils and losing yield potential, Smith said.

Soybeans are the second-biggest U.S. crop, valued in 2008 at a record $27.4 billion, behind corn at $47.4 billion, government figures show.