USDA’s latest grain export report, out Thursday morning and covering the week through January 8, showed a welcome influx of soybean sales, which exceeded analysts’ expectations. Corn sales found rangebound results, meantime, while wheat sales were largely lackluster.
Corn exports found 44.9 million bushels in old crop sales, plus a little over 50,000 bushels in new crop sales for the week ending January 8. That was toward the higher end of analyst estimates, which ranged between 23.6 million and 55.1 million bushels. Cumulative sales for the 2025-26 marketing year have reached 1.141 billion bushels, which is 60.1% better than last year’s pace so far.
Corn export shipments improved 11% week-over-week after reaching 61.2 million bushels. Mexico, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Ireland were the top five destinations.
Sorghum export sales rose 26% higher week-over-week after reaching 11.4 million bushels. That grain is bound for China, Mexico and Spain. Cumulative sales for the 2025-26 marketing year are catching up but still slightly behind last year’s pace after reaching 37.2 million bushels.
Soybean exports outpaced analyst expectations after reaching 75.7 million bushels. That was better than all trade guesses, which ranged between 29.4 million and 66.1 million bushels. Cumulative sales for the 2025-26 marketing year are still substantially behind last year’s pace after reaching 660.8 million bushels.
Soybean export shipments jumped 47% higher week-over-week after reaching 60.2 million bushels. China, Mexico, Algeria, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom were the top five destinations.
Wheat exports were a bit disappointing after only reaching 5.7 million bushels last week. That was also on the very low end of analyst estimates, which ranged between 3.7 million and 16.5 million bushels. Cumulative sales for the 2025-26 marketing year are still 16% above last year’s pace after reaching 564.6 million bushels.
Wheat export shipments faded 29% below the prior four-week average after reaching 11.1 million bushels. The Philippines, Mexico, Taiwan, Venezuela and Algeria were the top five destinations.
Click here for more highlights from today’s USDA export sales report.