USDA’s latest export sales report, out Thursday morning and covering the week through May 14, held mostly bullish data points for traders to digest. Corn sales led the way after rebounding from a disappointing effort in the prior week, climbing 71% above the prior four-week average in the process and posting the best week since mid-January. Soybean and wheat sales also captured moderately week-over-week gains.
Corn exports saw 83.6 million bushels in old crop sales, plus another 11.1 million bushels in new crop sales for a total volume of 94.8 million bushels. That was up noticeably week-over-week and eclipsed the entire set of trade guesses, which ranged between 37.4 million and 74.8 million bushels.
Corn export shipments faded 13% lower this past week after reaching 56.9 million bushels. Japan, Mexico, Colombia, Taiwan and Saudi Arabia were the top five destinations.
Sorghum sales were just over 570,000 bushels last week, with exports to China and Japan more than offsetting reductions to unknown destinations. Shipments of 5.9 million bushels were up noticeably from the prior week but 1% lower than the prior four-week average. That grain is bound to China, Mexico and Japan.
Old crop soybean sales improved 62% versus the prior four-week average to 12.9 million bushels. New crop sales contributed another 6.3 million bushels, for a total volume of 19.3 million bushels. That was toward the higher end of analyst estimates, which ranged between 5.5 million and 23.8 million bushels.
Soybean export shipments faded 21% lower week-over-week and 18% from the prior four-week average, with 19.4 million bushels. China, Egypt, Mexico, Indonesia and Japan were the top five destinations.
Wheat exports captured 6.1 million bushels in old crop sales and 4.8 million bushels in new crop sales for a total of 10.9 million bushels. Old crop sales improved 25% week-over-week and were 28% better than the prior four-week average. Analysts were generally expecting a more robust volume this week after showing trade guesses that ranged between 3.7 million and 20.2 million bushels.
Wheat export shipments stumbled 49% below the prior four-week average, with 8.5 million bushels. The Philippines, Mexico, Japan, Italy and Honduras were the top five destinations.
Click here for more highlights from today’s USDA export sales report.