Soybeans Price

 

The soybean is the source of vegetable protein for millions of people as well as an ingredient of numerous chemical products. Hence, it is economically regarded as the most important bean in the world and rightfully called the ‘king of beans.’

 

Quick Overview of Soybeans

✔️An overview of soybeans as a commodity
✔️The production of soybeans
✔️How to trade soybeans
Factors affecting the price of soybeans
The uses of soybeans
Conclusion

 

An overview of soybeans as a commodity

According to most botanists, the soybean, also referred to as soja bean, soya bean, or soy originates from China. However, the date since when it was domesticated is uncertain, most probably the eleventh century B.C.

As an ancient crop, the soybean has been cultivated in Asian countries such as China, Korea, and Japan for thousands of years as a food and ingredient for several medicines.

Soybeans were introduced into the United States of America, currently, the second-largest global producer of soybeans, in 1804, becoming a major crop in the South and Midwest in the mid-1900s.

The most important bean in the world arrived in Brazil, the largest soybean supplier, in 1882, introduced from the USA. In Argentina, the world’s third-largest producer of soybeans, ‘the story of soybean production … began in the 1970s, and production increased rapidly in the 1990s,’ according to Humanities & Social Services Communications. (Accentuation by the article writer.)

Some physical characteristics of the soybean:

• The soybean is an annual legume that is part of the pea family.
• It has the ability to obtain nitrogen from the atmosphere.
• It takes four to seven days for a soybean seed to sprout into a plant.
• It is an erect branching plant that can grow more than 2 metres in height.
• The soybean plant has a deep green colour with a paler shade of silver-green on the underside of the leaf.
• The plant is self-pollinating, meaning it can fertilise itself because it comprises male and female parts.
• It produces small flowers, varying from white to violet or a shade of purple.
• The seeds can vary from yellow, green, brown, black, or bi-coloured.

 

The production of soybeans

The three major producers of soybeans in the world, Brazil, the USA, and Argentina, produce over 80 percent of the annual global production.

 

• Planting

In the state of North Carolina in the USA, the planting season lasts from the beginning of May until July. In Brazil in South America, the planting of soybeans starts in September and continues until December. The country’s main soybean planting month is November. Southwest from Brazil, in Argentina, soybean planting begins at the end of October and ends in December, with the most soybean planting occurring in November.

The soybean seeds used for planting are grown from seeds obtained from a previous harvest. Seeds used for a new planting season are mature soybeans that are cleaned and put into bags specifically to be used as seeds for planting.

Typically, farmers select seeds according to certain sought-after characteristics such as colour, ability to withstand drought, wind, and unfavourable weather conditions, and the ability to provide a high yield.

Soybeans grow in any climate which has a warm growing season with sufficient water and sunlight. Furthermore, they may grow in most types of soil, but they flourish in warm, well-drained, and fertile loam soil.

Seed may be planted in tilled or cultivated land by a tractor and a planter. The seeds are planted about 3.8 centimetres deep (one and a half inches) in rows, usually about 76 centimetres (30 inches) wide and 76 centimetres (30 inches) apart.

The soybean is a rotational crop, meaning the planting of soybeans is rotated with the planting of another crop, such as corn, on the same land in consecutive planting seasons – a system referred to as crop rotation.

Farmers often start the planting season deciding on whether they should plant soybeans or corn. This decision is done in an economically and rational way, comparing the ‘corn-soybean spread’ which is the ratio between the new futures prices of soybeans and the new futures prices of corn.

 

• Growing        

After planting, the seeds take four to seven days to sprout into plants.

During the growing stage, soybeans may experience threats such as insect infestation and weeds that grow faster than the young soybean plants. The weeds, when outgrowing the soybean plants, can prevent sunlight and nutrients that are necessary for the growth of the soybean plants.

In order to minimise the reduction in the soybean yield, farmers are obliged to take the necessary steps to mitigate these threats.

In the soybean-producing areas in the USA, soybean plants bloom in July, August, and September, depending on when they were planted. The soybean flowers produce small pods that contain young seeds. Being a self-pollinating plant, the soybean plant is able to produce seeds, essentially cloning itself.

In Brazil, the flowers of soybean plants start to bloom, and pods start to develop in January. February is the main pod-filling month for soybeans.

Further southwest in South America, full-season soybeans start to flower, and pods begin to develop in January in Argentina. Pod setting continues in February with March being the main month for the setting of the soybean pods.

 

• Harvesting

In the USA, the soybeans start to mature in September, the leaves of the plants begin to turn yellow and turn brown by mid-October and November when they start to fall off the plants, exposing the ripe pods. The plants are now ready to be harvested when the moisture content of the seeds has dropped to 13 percent, allowing safe storage.

Soybeans are typically harvested mechanically with combines, short for combine harvesters, combining three essential harvest functions, namely reaping, threshing, and winnowing.

During harvest, the combine separates the soybeans from their pods and stems and stores the soybeans in a holding tank in the back of the combine harvester. Consequently, the combine will empty a full tank of soybeans into a grain truck or grain wagon, according to the North Carolina Soybean Producers Association.

The soybeans are then either transported directly to a grain dealer, or to storage facilities and stored until the farmer is ready to sell them. Eventually, the soybeans are taken to a processing plant where the protein component of the beans is separated from the oil components.

In Brazil, some very early soybeans may be harvested in January in the central region of the country. Harvesting continues until April while the export of soybeans starts in early February.

Argentinian farmers start harvesting early maturing soybeans in March. In April, Argentina’s full-season soybean harvest is in full swing and in May the farmers finish harvesting double-crop beans.

The top five soybean producers in the world are Brazil, the United States of America (USA), Argentina, China, and India.

According to Statista, as of May 2025, Brazil overtook the USA as the top soybean-producing country in the world with a production of about 139 million metric tonnes in 2025/21. Over the same period of time, the soybean production of the USA was almost 115 million metric tonnes, followed by Argentina with about 46.2 million metric tonnes, China with approximately 19.6 million metric tonnes, and India with almost 10.5 million metric tonnes.

 

How to trade soybeans

Three types of soybean products are available to trade on the commodities market, namely whole soybeans, soybean oil, and soybean meal. The prices of the three types can differ considerably due to their different uses.

According to AvaTrade, a reputable and experienced commodity broker, soybean trading can be executed in an ‘open outcry format and electronically’ on, among others, the following exchanges:

• Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).
• National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX).
• Dalian Commodity Exchange.
• The Brazilian Mercantile and Futures Exchange (BM&F).
• Kansai Commodities Exchange (KANEX).
• Tokyo Grain Exchange (TGE).

The soybean commodity market can be extremely volatile because of the effect of weather conditions and pests on its production.

 

Ways to trade soybeans:

• Whole soybeans can be traded by using a commodity broker. A trader/investor may be required to physically take possession of the soybeans, implying that the trader must have adequate storage facilities.

• Futures contracts

Futures contracts allow traders to commit to the delivery of a specific quantity of soybeans, soybean meal, or soybean oil at a predetermined date in the future for an agreed-upon price. As with trading whole soybeans, a lack of storage facilities could pose a problem.

• Contracts for difference (CFDs)

A more convenient way to trade soybeans, soybean oil, and soybean meal is to make use of CFDs. These trading instruments enable traders to predict the price movements of soybean commodity markets without the requirement to take ownership of the physical assets themselves.

• Options

Options allow traders to speculate on the price of the soft commodity. Options give traders the right but not the obligation to purchase or sell an underlying asset, such as soybeans, before specific expiry date.

To be able to make use of trading instruments such as futures contracts, CFDs, and options, a trader is required to make use of the services and advice of a regulated, reputable, and professional commodity broker.

A commodity broker will also teach you more about popular soybean trading strategies such as gain spreads and crush spreads.

 

 

Factors affecting the price of soybeans

Just like most other commodities, the price of soybeans is influenced by supply and demand. Soybeans are called soft commodities because they are grown. Conversely, commodities such as gold, platinum, and oil, amongst others, are referred to as hard commodities because they are mined or extracted.

 

Some of the main factors that drive the price of soybeans are:

• Demands of developing and emerging economies

Developing economies like China and India may boost the demand for products of soybeans due to a wealthier lifestyle which includes the consumption of more meat. The demand for soybeans will likely increase because soybean meal is used as feed for livestock.

A growing awareness of soy’s health benefits will also increase the demand for healthier foods which include soy oil or soy meal.

Growing populations in emerging markets, such as countries in Africa and South America, will need increasingly larger amounts of soybeans as a staple food.

• Production of top producers

Factors negatively affecting the supply of soybeans in leading producing countries such as Brazil, the USA, and Argentina may negatively impact the price of soybeans in the markets.

Factors such as adverse weather conditions like drought as well as hurricanes in American states in which soybeans are produced. An agricultural pest such as soybean rust can also limit the supply of soybeans to the global market.

In addition, economical considerations can also play a significant role in the production of soybeans. For instance, soybeans farmers decide at the start of a planting season which of the two crops – corn or soybeans – to plant. This decision is done by comparing the futures prices of the two crops.

• Performance of the US dollar

The US dollar is one of world’s the major currencies and is mostly used in international trade. Hence, the price of soybeans as well as the prices of most other commodities are quoted in US dollars.

Soybean producers receive fewer US dollars for their products when the dollar is strong and more US dollars when the US currency is weak.

• Alternative oils

Soybean oil has to compete in the consumer market with other popular oils such as rapeseed oil, cottonseed oil, linseed oil, as well as castor oil. The pricing and availability of these alternative oils can have an effect on the demand and price of soy.

• Subsidies for ethanol

In the USA, the government subsidises corn farmers in order to boost ethanol production. If corn subsidies are discontinued by the US government, farmers might decide to grow soybeans, probably resulting in an increase in the supply of soybeans which would probably cause the price of soybeans to decline.

• News about the health effects of soy consumption

Much of the demand for soy can be ascribed to its health benefits. Medical research and news of the effects, positively or negatively, of soy consumption on the health of humans may influence the use of soy in a positive or negative way, which could affect the price of soybeans accordingly.

 

The uses of soybeans

As reported by Statista, as of 2025, China with a consumption of about 18.5 million metric tonnes, was the leading consumer in the world of soybean oil, followed by the USA (about 11.3 million metric tonnes), and Brazil (almost 8 million metric tonnes).

 

The following examples show some of the ways in which soybeans are used:

• Food

Soybeans are an excellent and cheap source of protein and are used to make several food products.

Soybean seeds contain about 17% to 18% oil. The oil is extracted to produce soybean oil, which is then used as an ingredient in various dishes. The oil can be processed into shortening, margarine, and vegetarian vegan cheeses.

Soy oil represents almost 30 percent of global vegetable oil production.

In addition, soybean seeds contain about 63 percent meal, half of which is protein, making it a staple in the diets of millions of people around the globe. Soybean meal is used as a high-protein substitute for meat in various food products, among others, including vegetarian, and baby foods.

Soybean meal is also used as feed for livestock. It is estimated that almost 75% of soybeans are actually used as feed for animals.

Soybeans are a good source of protein for diabetics because they contain no starch.

Soybeans are also consumed in the form of foods such as soy milk, soy sauce, tofu, a curd that somewhat resembles cottage cheese, and miso, a paste made from fermented soybeans, to name a few.

• Industrial

About 2% of global soy production is used to manufacture biofuels.

Soybean oil is also used as an ingredient in soy crayons, candles, lubricants, paints, adhesives, fertilizers, and fluids for fire-extinguishers, among other products.

 

In conclusion

The use of soybeans and the products derived from them is rapidly increasing – especially in Asian countries. Soy is called the ‘king of beans,’ and rightly so.

Climate change may affect the production of this sought-after commodity, requiring all of us to do our bit to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Also, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), has raised concerns about the soybean industry, warning ‘that the soybean is causing widespread deforestation and displacement of small farmers and indigenous peoples around the globe. To ensure that soybean expansion does not further harm natural environments and indigenous communities, WWF is encouraging the development of better production practices.’

 

Note: This article does not constitute investment, financial, or trading advice. Please obtain the advice of a professional and regulated commodity broker before making trading and investment decisions.