USDA’s latest set of grain export sales data, out Thursday morning and covering the week through March 13, didn’t have a lot of bullish numbers for traders to digest. Of particular note, old crop wheat sales stumbled to a marketing-year low, and total soybean sales slumped below the range of analyst estimates. Corn bucked that overall trend after posting another solid round of results.
Corn export sales improved 55% week-over-week after reaching 61.3 million bushels. That was also toward the higher end of analyst estimates, which ranged between 31.5 million and 70.9 million bushels. Cumulative sales for the 2024/25 marketing year remain moderately ahead of last year’s pace after reaching 1.235 billion bushels.
Corn export shipments eased 10% lower week-over-week but were still 12% better than the prior four-week average, with 66.4 million bushels. Mexico, Japan, Colombia, South Korea and Taiwan were the top five destinations.
Sorghum exports shifted 16% lower week-over-week while remaining 31% ahead of the prior four-week average, with 1.1 million bushels. Mexico was the lone destination. Cumulative sales for the 2024/25 marketing year remain noticeably below last year’s pace after reaching 46.0 million bushels.
Soybean exports were lackluster last week after reaching 13.0 million bushels. Old crop sales eroded 53% lower week-over-week and 29% below the prior four-week average. Analysts were expecting a more robust round of sales, offering trade guesses that ranged between 14.7 million and 34.9 million bushels. Cumulative sales for the 2024/25 marketing year remain moderately ahead of last year's pace, with 1.438 billion bushels.
Soybean export shipments faded 31% below the prior four-week average, with 21.8 million bushels. China, Mexico, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam were the top five destinations.
Wheat exports saw net old crop sales reductions of 9.1 million bushels (a marketing-year low), but an influx of new crop sales lifted total sales to 8.9 million bushels. That was still below the entire range of analyst estimates, meantime, which ranged between 11.9 million and 29.4 million bushels. Cumulative sales for the 2024/25 marketing year are still moderately higher than last year’s pace after reaching 583.4 million bushels.
Wheat export shipments jumped 55% above the prior four-week average, with 17.3 million bushels. South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Mexico and Chile were the top five destinations.
Click here for more highlights and data from the latest UDSA export sales report.