After the longest federal government shutdown on record, USDA is finally current with its export sales data after releasing its latest report Thursday morning. That’s the good news – traders are no longer relying on stale export data when setting their positions. However, today’s report, covering the week through January 1, didn’t have a lot of bullish data for them to digest. Corn sales slumped to a marketing-year low. Wheat sales improved from the prior week but were still lackluster. Soybean sales faded moderately lower week-over-week.
Old crop corn export sales fell to a marketing-year low of 14.9 million bushels. New crop sales chipped in another 470,000 bushels bound for Mexico. That had sales 76% below the prior four-week average. The more bullish statistic is that cumulative sales for the 2025-26 marketing year have climbed to 1.08 billion bushels, which is 65% above last year’s pace so far.
Corn export shipments were steady week-over-week but 12% below the prior four-week average, with 55.0 million bushels. Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Colombia and Guatemala were the top five destinations.
Sorghum exports jumped noticeably above the prior week’s volume after reaching 9.1 million bushels. Increases to China, Spain and Mexico were partially offset by reductions to unknown destinations. Cumulative sales for the 2025-26 marketing year are still trending moderately below last year’s pace after reaching 31.4 million bushels.
Soybean exports eroded 26% lower week-over-week after reaching 32.3 million bushels. That was on the lower end of analyst estimates, which ranged between 27.6 million and 47.8 million bushels. Cumulative sales for the 2025-26 marketing year are still noticeably below last year’s pace after reaching 600.6 million bushels.
Soybean export shipments eased 9% lower week-over-week but still improved 17% above the prior four-week average, with 40.9 million bushels. China, Egypt, Mexico, Taiwan and Indonesia were the top five destinations.
Wheat exports reached 4.7 million bushels in combined old and new crop sales last week. Old crop sales slumped 55% below the prior four-week average. Total sales were on the very low end of analyst estimates, which ranged between 7.4 million and 18.4 million bushels. Cumulative sales for the 2025-26 marketing year are still nearly 22% higher than last year’s pace after reaching 553.4 million bushels.
Wheat export shipments were 65% below the prior four-week average after reaching 6.3 million bushels. The Philippines, Mexico, Japan, Haiti and Guatemala were the top five destinations.
Click here for more highlights from today’s USDA export sales report.