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Soybean sales strong, with lackluster wheat sales.

Ben Potter, Senior editor

May 5, 2022

2 Min Read
grain onto export ship
Getty/iStockphoto

The latest set of USDA export sales and shipment data, out Thursday morning and covering the week through April 28, once again held mixed data for traders to consider. The numbers for corn were particularly interesting, with sales on the lower end of trade estimates while shipments climbed to a marketing-year high. Soybean sales were also solid, while wheat sales were largely disappointing.

Old crop corn sales were down 10% week-over-week, with 30.8 million bushels. New crop sales added another 29.0 million bushels, for a total of 59.8 million bushels. That was toward the lower end of trade estimates, which ranged between 47.2 million and 94.5 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2021/22 marketing year are now at 1.576 billion bushels, versus year-ago totals of 1.713 billion bushels.

Corn export shipments notched a new marketing-year high, with 75.0 million bushels. China was the No. 1 destination, with 18.3 million bushels. Mexico, Colombia, Japan and Spain rounded out the top five.

Sorghum export sales came in at 3.5 million bushels last week. All of that grain is bound for Spain. Cumulative sales for the 2021/22 marketing year are trending slightly below last year’s pace, with 192.1 million bushels. Sorghum export shipments firmed 26% from a week ago, with 8.4 million bushels.

Old crop soybean sales tracked 28% above the prior four-week average, with 27.0 million bushels. New crop sales added another 15.0 million bushels, for a total of 42.0 million bushels. That was near the middle of trade guesses, which ranged between 22.0 million and 59.7 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2021/22 marketing year are 332 million bushels below last year’s pace, with 1.738 billion bushels.

Soybean export shipments slumped 30% below the prior four-week average, with 20.7 million bushels. China (6.5 million bushels) and Egypt (6.4 million bushels) were the top two destinations. Mexico, Colombia and Japan filled out the top five.

Wheat exports were lackluster, with 4.4 million bushels in old crop sales and 1.6 million bushels in new crop sales for a total haul of 6.0 million bushels. That was on the low end of trade guesses, which ranged between 3.7 million and 16.5 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2021/22 marketing year remain moderately behind last year’s pace, with 634.7 million bushels.

Wheat export shipments shifted 8% higher than the prior four-week average, with 13.9 million bushels. Mexico was the No. 1 destination, with 3.2 million bushels. The Philippines, South Korea, Colombia and Japan rounded out the top five.

Click here for more results from USDA’s latest report, covering April 22 through April 28.

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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