Soybeans Rise as Midwest Rain Reduced Area U.S. Farmers Planted

June 28 (Bloomberg) -- Soybeans rose, erasing an earlier decline, on speculation that two weeks of excessive rain have reduced the number of acres planted in the U.S., the biggest exporter of the oilseed.

Some Midwest fields got more than 9 inches (23 centimeters) of rain in the past two weeks, and Iowa, the biggest grower, is headed for the wettest June since at least 1895, T-Storm Weather in Chicago said in a report. The precipitation may mean fewer soybean acres than the 78.1 million forecast by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in March.

“There is a material loss in planted area” from northeast Nebraska to northwest Ohio, said Roy Huckabay, the executive vice president at the Linn Group, a brokerage in Chicago. “Soybean planting probably fell to 76.5 million acres.”

Soybean futures for November delivery gained 6 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $9.18 a bushel at 1:12 p.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade, after dropping 0.4 percent to $9.0825. The most-active contract slipped 2 percent last week, the eighth decline in nine weeks.

The soybean crop in the U.S., the world’s largest grower, was valued at $31.8 billion last year, second only to corn at $48.6 billion, government figures show.