USDA’s latest batch of grain export inspection data, out Monday morning and covering the week through March 10, didn’t hold many bullish numbers for traders to digest. Corn spilled moderately lower and landed on the low end of trade estimates. Wheat was also down moderately from a week ago, falling below the entire range of trade estimates. Soybeans bucked the overall trend, firming slightly week-over-week.

Corn export inspections retreated moderately below last week’s tally, to 45.1 million bushels. Analysts were generally expecting a bigger haul, with trade guesses coming in between 39.4 million and 65.0 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2021/22 marketing year are currently trailing last year’s pace by around 168 million bushels, with a total of 1.021 billion bushels.

China was the No. 1 destination for U.S. corn export inspections last week, with 13.2 million bushels. Mexico, Colombia, El Salvador and Italy rounded out the top five.

Sorghum export inspections firmed moderately versus a week ago to reach 10.2 million bushels. Nearly all of that grain is bound for China, with a small remainder heading to Mexico. Cumulative totals for the 2021/22 marketing year remains moderately behind last year’s pace, with 137.2 million bushels.

Soybean export inspections inched fractionally higher week-over-week, reaching 28.4 million bushels. That was toward the higher end of trade estimates, which ranged between 22.0 million and 32.2 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2021/22 marketing year are still well below last year’s pace, with 1.549 billion bushels.

China was once again the top destination for U.S. soybean export inspections, with another 14.3 million bushels. Mexico, Indonesia, Egypt and Taiwan filled out the top five.

Wheat export inspections faded moderately lower from the prior week, falling to 10.4 million bushels. That was also below the entire range of trade guesses, which came in between 11.0 million and 20.2 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2021/22 marketing year continue to slide further below last year’s pace, reaching 595.0 million bushels.

Mexico was the No. 1 destination for U.S. wheat export inspections last week, with 3.5 million bushels. Burma, the Philippines, Chile and Yemen rounded out the top five.

Click here to read more data from the latest USDA grain export inspection report.