Soybeans plunge; crop yields are surprisingly high

Soybeans for November delivery plunged 70 cents to settle at $16.69 a bushel. Other crop prices also fell. December wheat lost 46.25 cents to settle at $8.78 a bushel. December corn fell 34 cents to $7.48 per bushel.

Cooler weather and rains in August helped U.S. soybean crops far more than had been anticipated, after a record-setting hot July severely damaged corn crops. Jason Ward, analyst with Northstar Commodity in Minneapolis, says farmers are "pleasantly surprised" to see how well the early soybean crop yields are coming in.

Early crop yield reports from even very dry areas were coming in strong, Ward said, especially in Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois and Indiana. Ward says there's "more room to go down" for soybean prices after the November contract hit a record high of $17.89 on Sept. 4.

Even with only 10 percent of the crop harvested, Ward said the "early indications are better than expected."