THE fall in the value of sterling has been something of a mixed blessing for farmers, with feed wheat and barley prices increasing by roughly £40 per tonne since harvest, but on a more positive note, soya values have dropped by £30 to £40 per tonne over the past three weeks.
As a result, Robbie Duncan, of Quest Farm Supplies, Kilmarnock, said now is the time to buy soya to save on future feed bills.
“Soya prices in America are the lowest they have been in the past three years and with the exchange rate as it is, are now roughly £300 per tonne delivered on farm. I don’t think you’ll get soya any cheaper,” he told The Scottish Farmer.
Mr Duncan said the main reason for the decline in value was the increase in world production, in particular the crop’s production throughout South America. 
According to the the US Department of Agriculture, Brazil witnessed the biggest upgrade to production levels in this month’s report, with soyabean output in the country up 3m tonnes from March to 111m tonnes. If confirmed, the Brazilian soyabean harvest would be 14% larger than the nation’s previous record harvest, 97.2m tonnes in 2014/15.
The increase in Brazil, combined with increases for other in South American countries, would take global soyabean production to a record 346m tonnes, or 26m tonnes higher than the previous record set in 2014/15.