Soybean processors across the US Midwest are offering unusually large premiums for immediate deliveries as persistent rains delay the 2026 harvest, tighten available supplies and force some plants to scale back production. The USDA projects processors will crush a record 2.78 billion bushels in the current crop year, supported by strong margins and expanded capacity driven largely by biofuel demand. Cash prices have surged, benefiting farmers with harvestable soybeans or remaining old-crop supplies, while many growers cannot reach fields because of muddy conditions and slower crop drying. Cargill offered $1 a bushel over November soybean futures for Thursday and Friday deliveries at its Sioux City, Iowa, plant, equivalent to $14.17-1/2 a bushel, but its bid fell to 15 cents below futures for Saturday. Bunge, Archer-Daniels-Midland, CHS Inc and Shell Rock Soy Processing also offered short-term premiums. Some Cargill plants did not post soymeal offers because of insufficient supplies, while October CBOT soymeal futures reached a contract high and traded at a premium to December futures for the first time in more than two years.