Private analytical firm Informa Economics on Friday lowered its outlook for the U.S. corn crop and soy harvest, according to traders.

Informa, a closely watched crop forecaster, lowered its estimate for the corn harvest to 12.34 billion bushels from the 12.549 billion bushels forecast in November, traders said. The firm trimmed its yield estimate to 147.0 bushels an acre, they said.

U.S. Department of Agriculture is scheduled to release updated figures on Thursday at 8:30 a.m. EST (1330 GMT).

Informa lowered its estimate for the soybean harvest to 3.08 billion bushels from 3.082 billion bushels in November, traders said. It pegged the average yield at 41.8 bushels an acre, unchanged from its previous projection.

In November, USDA put the U.S. corn crop at 12.310 billion bushels using a yield of 146.7 bushels an acre, and soybean output at 3.046 billion using a yield of 41.3 bushels an acre.

Informa on Friday also cut its forecast for corn output in Argentina, the world's second largest exporter of the grain, due to hot, dry weather.

The closely watched agricultural forecaster lowered its estimate for Argentina's corn crop to 24 million tons from its previous estimate of 27 million tons, traders said. USDA last month projected the crop at 29 million tons.

Informa trimmed its estimate for Argentina's soybean crop to 51 million tons, below USDA's December estimate of 52 million, traders said. Soybeans are planted after corn and have not yet entered their critical growing period, as corn has.

Informa pegged soybean production in Brazil, the world's second-largest soybean exporter, at 72 million tons, down 1.6 million from its previous estimate and below USDA's December estimate of 75 million, traders said. Traders had worried heat and dryness could creep north to southern Brazil from Argentina.

-By Andrew Johnson Jr, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-347-4604; andrew.johnsonjr@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 06, 2012 12:29 ET (17:29 GMT)