The U.S. domestic market for soybeans could play a larger role in the overall soybean economy in the next ten years.
Production numbers have trended higher for several years, but most of that growth is coming from higher yields rather than planted acreage. USDA says that there is not much room for the planted area to expand and a little less than half of the annual crop gets exported.
As output from higher yields continues to increase, USDA’s chief economist says that the share being exported could decrease.
According to Seth Meyer, “We need that growth domestically. So, I think longer-term we’ll continue to export, but we may not see big increases in export volumes as the increases in production we get we’re also going to largely need for our home market.”
For the crop just harvested, production and domestic use are predicted to be slightly up with exports down.
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