According to Monday’s NASS Crop Progress report, 80% of the US soybean crop had reached the blooming stage by 26 July, which is 6 percentage points ahead of normal. Around 47% of the crop has set pods, 8 percentage points ahead of the five-year average. The crop condition rating declined by 3 percentage points to 63% in the good-to-excellent category, while the Brugler500 index fell by 6 points to 363.

The weekly Export Inspections report showed that US soybean export shipments for the week ending 23 July totalled 348,850 tonnes (12.82 million bushels). This was 9.3% higher than the previous week but 18.5% lower than the same week last year. Mexico was the largest destination with 88,217 tonnes, followed by Egypt with 65,155 tonnes and Japan with 57,290 tonnes. Total soybean exports for the current marketing year have reached 38.97 million tonnes (2.843 billion bushels), down 17.5% from the same period last year.

According to the NOAA seven-day precipitation forecast, much of Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio is expected to receive 1 to 2 inches of rainfall over the coming week. Eastern South Dakota and southern Minnesota are also forecast to receive 1 to 2 inches of rain.