CHICAGO: Chicago soybean futures dropped to the lowest seen since December 2020 on Tuesday, after a US government report pegged soybean and corn production to be bigger than traders had previously expected.

The monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report pegged the soybean crop at 4.448 billion bushels, and soybean yields at 51.5 bushels per acre.

Corn futures also fell after the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimated both the corn crop currently being harvested, and the corn yields, were higher than trader expectations. But wheat got a boost from the USDA's forecast that global wheat ending stocks were the lowest seen in five years, due in part to droughts in the northern United States and Canada that hurt production.

For some commodity futures traders, the number came as a confirmation of the rumbles among US farmers, who have been reporting larger-than-expected corn and soybean crops.

"It proves out what the combines have been saying - that the yields are bigger," said Don Roose, president of US Commodities in West Des Moines, Iowa.

The larger-than-expected corn and soybean crops could be a welcome boon to food manufacturers, which have wrestled with rising food prices; energy companies, which have been battered by volatile oil pricing; and meatpackers, which are concerned about high costs of crops used primarily to feed livestock.

It also raised questions about whether corn and soybean futures prices could continue to fall as the US harvest progresses, or whether a seasonal low has now been set, traders said.