The latest grain export report from USDA, out Thursday morning and covering the week through January 29, didn’t have a lot of bullish data points for traders to digest. In particular, old crop soybean sales slumped to a marketing-year low. Wheat and corn sales also faced moderate declines this past week.
Corn exports shifted 37% lower week-over-week and fell 42% below the prior four-week average, with 41.6 million bushels. That was also toward the lower end of analyst estimates, which ranged between 31.5 million and 82.7 million bushels. Cumulative sales for the 2025-26 marketing year still have a commanding year-over-year lead of 31% after reaching 1.308 billion bushels.
Corn export shipments faded 24% below the prior four-week average, with 45.2 million bushels. Japan, Mexico, Colombia, South Korea and Spain were the top five destinations.
Sorghum exports improved 8% versus the prior four-week average after reaching 13.6 million bushels. All of that grain is currently bound for unknown destinations (which often eventually flips to China). Cumulative sales are now trending moderately above last year’s pace after reaching 55.1 million bushels.
Soybean export sales slumped to a marketing-year low of 16.1 million bushels last week. That was also on the very low end of analyst estimates, which ranged between 14.7 million and 58.8 million bushels. Cumulative sales for the 2025-26 marketing year are still tracking 20% below last year’s pace after reaching 805.8 million bushels.
Soybean export shipments improved 9% week-over-week after reaching 51.0 million bushels. China, Mexico, Egypt, Vietnam and Pakistan were the top five destinations.
Wheat exports found 15.2 million bushels in combined old and new crop sales last week. Old crop sales were down 33% week over week but still managed to inch 3% above the prior four-week average. Total sales were slightly on the low end of trade guesses, which ranged between 11.0 million and 22.0 million bushels. Cumulative sales for the 2025-26 marketing year are still 18% above last year’s pace after reaching 607.0 million bushels.
Wheat export shipments improved 32% from the prior four-week average after reaching 14.8 million bushels. Mexico, Taiwan, South Korea, the Philippines and Vietnam were the top five destinations.
Click here for more highlights from today’s USDA export sales report.