USDA’s latest grain export inspection report, out Monday morning and covering the week through December 18, held mostly bullish points for traders to digest. Corn volume led the way once again and has widened its year-over-year lead to 68% above 2024-25 volume. Soybeans and wheat also saw moderate week-over-week improvements in today’s report.
Corn export inspections improved to 68.7 million bushels last week. That was also a bit toward the higher end of analyst estimates, which ranged between 39.4 million and 86.6 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2025-26 marketing year are noticeably above last year’s pace after reaching 955.4 million bushels.
South Korea was the No. 1 destination for U.S. corn export inspections last week, with 16.0 million bushels. Mexico, Spain, Japan and Vietnam rounded out the top five.
Sorghum export inspections stumbled to just 158,000 bushels last week. That grain is bound for China. Cumulative totals for the 2025-26 marketing year are still trending at less than half of last year’s pace after only reaching 21.5 million bushels.
Soybean export inspections made it to 32.0 million bushels last week. That was slightly on the lower end of analyst estimates, which ranged between 29.4 million and 36.7 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2025-26 marketing year are substantially (-46%) below last year’s pace after reaching 536.0 million bushels.
China topped all destinations for U.S. soybean export inspections last week, with 12.0 million bushels. Mexico, Germany, Indonesia and Japan filled out the top five.
Wheat export inspections outperformed analyst expectations after reaching 23.1 million bushels last week. That was above all trade guesses, which ranged between 7.3 million and 14.7 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2025-26 marketing year are still 23% better than last year’s pace after reaching 542.1 million bushels.
Japan was the No. 1 destination for U.S. wheat export inspections last week, with 2.7 million bushels. Thailand, China, Bangladesh and Mexico rounded out the top five.
Click here for additional highlights from today’s USDA grain export inspection report.