CHICAGO, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Private analytics firm Informa Economics raised its estimate of the U.S. 2012 soybean crop to 2.925 billion bushels from 2.86 billion previously, trade sources said Friday.
The firm raised its estimate of the average U.S. soybean yield to 38.6 bushels per acre from 37.8 last month.
The figures were above the latest estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which last month put the U.S. soybean crop at 2.86 billion bushels, based on a yield of 37.8 bushels per acre.
The government was scheduled to release updated crop estimates on Nov. 9.
For corn, Informa said in a note to clients that it expected USDA next week to raise its estimate of U.S. 2012 corn production to 10.738 billion bushels, with a yield of 122.4 bushels per acre, slightly above the government's October production forecast of 10.706 billion bushels, with a yield of 122.0 bushels per acre.
Informa's corn forecasts were down from its own Oct. 5 estimates, which pegged the corn crop at 11.194 billion bushels, with a yield of 127.0 bushels per acre.
Informa said it did not expect USDA to change estimates of 2012 harvested acreage until its final U.S. 2012 crop production report in January. As a result, Informa based its production changes primarily on yield adjustments.
Informa said it lowered corn yields by about one bushel per acre from USDA's October figures for states in the eastern Midwest. Informa raised yields by about the same amount for states in the western Midwest.
Informa said it made the biggest change in Indiana, cutting its estimate of that state's corn yield to 90 bushels per acre, 10 bushels below USDA's October estimate for the state.
In contrast to corn, Informa raised its estimate of soybean yields in the eastern Midwest by about 1.5 bushels per acre from USDA's October figures. The firm raised soybean yields in the western Midwest by only about 0.5 bushel per acre.
