US soyabean futures fell to fresh five-month lows on Friday after the US Department of Agriculture said spring plantings would set an all-time high above traders' expectations. Farmers in arid Plains states and elsewhere are shifting to plant soyabeans, instead of corn and wheat, as the crop provides one of the few bright spots in a gloomy farm economy. The USDA estimated that farmers will plant a record 89.5 million acres of soyabeans, up 7 percent from last year, while reducing corn plantings by 4 percent to 90 million acres.
Chicago Board of Trade most-active May soyabeans were down 12 cents at $9.51 a bushel by 11:45 am CDT (1645 GMT). The contract earlier touched $9.44-1/4, its lowest level since mid-October. Wheat and corn futures rose, recovering from recent multi-week lows, after the USDA said plantings would be slightly smaller than expected. Most-active CBOT wheat jumped 9 cents to $4.30 a bushel, while corn gained 6 cents to $3.63-1/2 a bushel. The USDA said soyabeans in storage totalled nearly 1.74 billion bushels as of March 1, up 13 percent from a year ago. Corn stocks were up 10 percent at 8.62 billion, and wheat stocks were up 21 percent at 1.66 billion.