Soybean futures rise for third consecutive session

Soybean futures rose on Wednesday away from the lowest since March 31, 2016, as the dollar index slid for the second session to nine-month trough, following earlier data from the US, the world's largest soybean producer and exporter. 

As of 08:40 GMT, soybean futures due on September 15 rose 0.46% to $0.92175 from the opening of $0.91775, while the dollar index slid 0.38% to 96.03 from the opening of 96.39. 

The US Department of Agriculture's report for the week ending June 15 showed net soybean crop sales falling 67% to 111.2 million metric tonnes, compared to 340.2 million in the week ending June 8, while down 72% from the last four-week average. 

Total soybean exports fell 39% to 296.1 million metric tonnes from the previous week, and down 21% from the four-week average. 

The USDA report showed soybean acreage at 83.4 million acres in the year 2016-2017, with a path that could hit 89.5 million next year, same forecast as in January, while the harvest is estimated at 82.7 million acres, and could reach 88.6 million next year. 

The report said the harvest in 2016-2017 could reach 52.1 bushel per acre, before falling to 48.0 bushels per acre in 2017-2018, and as for inventories, they're estimated at 191 million bushels in the 2015-2016 year, and 197 million bushels in 2016-2017, while forecasting 450 million bushels for the year 2017-2018.