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Soybean acres may not meet crush demand even if they eclipse corn

A grain market analyst says he doesn’t expect soybean acres to support demand for new crushing plants.

Steve Nicholson, global strategist for grains and oilseeds with Rabobank says soybean acres could top corn acres over the next five years. “It’s not surprising to see an arc and then see it come back down as we get to the second-half of that 10-year baseline.”

He tells Brownfield crushing margins will eventually come down. “Instead of 90 to 95 percent capacity utilization, maybe it’s close to 80 percent capacity utilization.  You’ll also see older, more efficient plants come down as crushing margins get squeezed.”  

Nicholson says he doesn’t predict a significant shift in acres for 2023 with 90-plus million corn acres and 88.5 million acres of soybeans planted.