The latest round of grain export sales data from USDA, out Thursday morning and covering the week through March 10, showed old crop sales facing some modest to moderate week-over-week reductions, but the overall numbers were still relatively bullish. Old crop corn sales faded 14% lower, but total sales remained strong and bested analyst estimates. Old crop soybean sales tipped 11% below the prior four-week average, while old crop wheat sales fell 53% lower week-over-week.

Corn exports found 73.3 million bushels in old crop sales plus another 8.0 million bushels in new crop sales for a total tally of 81.3 million bushels. That was well above the entire range of trade guesses, which came in between 27.6 million and 63.0 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2021/22 marketing year are trending slightly below last year’s pace, with 1.134 billion bushels.

Corn export shipments shifted 28% lower week-over-week and fell 25% below the prior four-week average, to 50.1 million bushels. China was the No. 1 destination, with 13.2 million bushels. Mexico, Colombia, Japan and Guatemala rounded out the top five.

Sorghum export sales topped the prior four-week average by 36%, with 4.3 million bushels. Sorghum export shipments fared even better, rising 40% above the prior four-week average to 10.2 million bushels. China continues to account for the majority of U.S. sorghum sales.

Old crop soybean sales fell 43% below the prior week’s tally, with 46.0 million bushels. New crop sales added 17.5 million bushels, for a total of 63.5 million bushels. That was toward the lower end of analyst estimates, which ranged between 51.4 million and 110.2 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2021/22 marketing year are still trailing last year’s pace by more than 400 million bushels after reaching 1.555 billion bushels.

Soybean export shipments fell 29% below the prior four-week average to 26.2 million bushels. China was again the No. 1 destination, with 13.6 million bushels. Mexico, Indonesia, Egypt and Taiwan filled out the top five.

Wheat exports 5.4 million bushels in old crop sales and 12.0 million bushels in new crop sales for a total of 17.4 million bushels. That was near the middle of analyst estimates, which ranged between 9.2 million and 25.7 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2021/22 marketing year are still moderately behind last year’s pace, with 543.1 million bushels.

Wheat export shipments dropped 42% below the prior four-week average to 9.2 million bushels. Mexico topped all destinations, with 3.0 million bushels. The Philippines, Chile, Vietnam and Malaysia rounded out the top five.

Click here for more data from USDA’s latest report, covering March 4 through March 10.