USDA’s latest grain export report, covering the week ending June 18, held mostly positive data, with corn, soybean and wheat exports all up week-over-week. Traders mostly shrugged off that news, however, with most grain contracts down 0.5% to 1% immediately following this morning’s report.

Corn old crop sales were up 29% last week, with 18.2 million bushels. New crop sales added another 3.0 million bushels, for a total tally of 21.2 million bushels. Analysts were generally expecting a bigger haul, with trade guesses ranging between 15.7 million and 43.3 million bushels. Mexico snapped up more than half of that total, with 11.6 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2019/20 marketing year are now at 1.277 billion bushels – still far behind last year’s pace of 1.677 billion bushels.

Corn export shipments fared much better, jumping 50% above the prior week’s total to reach 51.7 million bushels. Mexico was again the No. 1 destination, with 15.6 million bushels. South Korea, Japan, Israel and Peru rounded out the top five.

Sorghum export sales slowed to a trickle last week, falling 69% from a week ago. Export shipments were also down 49% week-over-week. But overall during the 2019/20 marketing year, sorghum sales continue to enjoy a quiet success story, with 125.3 million bushels – more than doubling the prior year’s pace of 49.5 million bushels.

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Old crop soybean sales firmed 12% above last week’s tally but faded 10% below the prior four-week average, with 22.1 million bushels. New crop sales added another 20.6 million bushels, for a total of 42.7 million bushels. That was in line with trade estimates, which ranged between 29.4 million and 69.8 million bushels. China reemerged as the No. 1 buyer, with 20.8 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2019/20 marketing year have slipped fractionally below last year’s pace, with 1.356 billion bushels.

Soybean export shipments fell 19% below the prior four-week average, with 11.1 million bushels. China was the No. 1 destination but only accounted for 3.1 million bushels. Egypt, Japan, Mexico and Indonesia filled out the top five.

Wheat export sales reached 19.1 million bushels last week, which was on the high end of trade estimates, which ranged between 9.2 million and 23.9 million bushels. Japan (3.3 million bushels) was the top buyer, with Nigeria, South Korea and Mexico trailing close behind. Cumulative totals for the 2020/21 marketing year reached 50.3 million bushels, firming 11% above last year’s pace.

Wheat export shipments were stronger last week, with 26.1 million bushels. China emerged as the No. 1 destination, with 3.4 million bushels, followed closely by Japan, Nigeria, Yemen and Indonesia.

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Click here to see more highlights from the latest USDA export report, covering the period between June 12 and June 18.