USDA’s latest round of grain export sales data, out Thursday morning and covering the week through April 21, held another mixed bag of data for traders to digest. Once again, corn turned in the best performance but still landed on the lower end of trade estimates. Soybean volume was also solid for this time of year, considering how tight domestic supplies are right now. Wheat posted another set of largely disappointing results, barely staying within the range of analyst estimates.

Corn exports saw 34.9 million bushels in old crop sales plus 33.2 million bushels in new crop sales for a total of 68.1 million bushels. Old crop sales trended 5% below the prior four-week average. Analysts were generally expecting a larger haul, with estimates ranging between 62.5 million and 104.7 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2021/22 marketing year are still moderately below last year’s pace, with 1.501 billion bushels.

Corn export shipments were up 31% from a week ago and steady with the prior four-week average, with 61.5 million bushels. Japan was the No. 1 destination, with 15.2 million bushels. Mexico, China, Colombia and South Korea rounded out the top five.

Sorghum sales were noticeably below the prior four-week average, with just 492,000 bushels. That grain is bound for China, Mexico and South Korea. Cumulative totals for the 2021/22 marketing year are slightly below last year’s pace, with 183.8 million bushels.

Soybean exports found 17.7 million bushels in old crop sales plus another 21.3 million bushels in new crop sales for a total of 39.0 million bushels. That was toward the middle of trade estimates, which ranged between 18.4 million and 57.0 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2021/22 marketing year are still running more than 300 million bushels behind last year’s pace, with 1.717 billion bushels.

Soybean export shipments slid 10% below the prior four-week average to 26.1 million bushels. China was the No. 1 destination, with 10.3 million bushels. Egypt, Mexico, Bangladesh and Taiwan filled out the top five.

Wheat exports only found 1.2 million bushels in old crop sales, with another 4.6 million bushels in new crop sales bringing last week’s total to 5.8 million bushels. Analysts generally expected a bigger haul, with trade guesses ranging between 5.5 million and 21.1 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2021/22 marketing year are still moderately behind last year’s pace, with 620.8 million bushels.

Wheat export shipments slumped 35% below the prior four-week average, with 9.0 million bushels. Italy topped all destinations, with 2.0 million bushels. The Philippines, Mexico, Japan and Colombia rounded out the top five.

Click here for more results from USDA’s latest report, covering April 15 through April 21.