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Corn volume largely lackluster, while wheat trends moderately lower

Ben Potter, Senior editor

July 28, 2022

2 Min Read
Cargo ship loading grain for transport
Getty/iStockphoto/cpsnell

The latest set of export sales data from USDA, out Thursday morning and covering the week through July 21, held mostly disappointing data for traders to digest. Soybean volume showed that the shift between old and new crop sales is commencing in earnest, after 2021/22 sales showed a net reduction and 2022/23 sales were much more encouraging. Corn sales were tepid, meantime, and wheat sales slumped moderately below the prior four-week average.

Old crop corn sales improved noticeably week-over-week but still only came in at 5.9 million bushels. New crop sales chipped in another 7.6 million bushels, for a total of 13.5 million bushels. That was on the lower end of trade estimates, which ranged between 7.9 million and 36.4 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2021/22 marketing year are still moderately trailing last year’s pace after reaching 2.181 billion bushels.

Corn export shipments were more robust, with 34.2 million bushels, although that was still 19% below the prior four-week average. Mexico, China, Japan, Guatemala and Colombia were the top five destinations.

Sorghum exports totaled 2.8 million bushels last week, with that grain largely bound for China (Mexico accounted for the modest remainder). Export shipments slumped 34% below the prior four-week average. Cumulative sales for the 2021/22 marketing year are still slightly above last year’s pace, with 263.2 million bushels.

Old crop soybean sales saw a net reduction of 2.2 million bushels, while new crop sales jumped to 27.5 million bushels, for a net total of 25.3 million bushels. That was on the upper end of trade guesses, which came in as high as 29.4 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2021/22 marketing year remain moderately below last year’s pace, with 1.961 billion bushels.

Soybean export shipments slid 14% below the prior four-week average to 14.5 million bushels. Mexico, the Netherlands, Bangladesh, Egypt and Japan were the top five destinations.

Wheat export sales fell 29% below the prior four-week average to 15.1 million bushels. That was near the middle of trade estimates, which ranged between 9.2 million and 23.0 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2022/23 marketing year are nearly 20% below last year’s pace so far, with 81.0 million bushels.

Wheat export shipments jumped 47% above the prior four-week average to 12.7 million bushels. Mexico, the Philippines, Colombia, Japan and Morocco were the top five destinations.

Click here for more results from USDA’s latest report, which covers July 8 through July 14.

About the Author(s)

Ben Potter

Senior editor, Farm Futures

Senior Editor Ben Potter brings two decades of professional agricultural communications and journalism experience to Farm Futures. He began working in the industry in the highly specific world of southern row crop production. Since that time, he has expanded his knowledge to cover a broad range of topics relevant to agriculture, including agronomy, machinery, technology, business, marketing, politics and weather. He has won several writing awards from the American Agricultural Editors Association, most recently on two features about drones and farmers who operate distilleries as a side business. Ben is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

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