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Old crop corn sales slump to marketing-year low, in contrast.

Ben Potter, Senior editor

May 13, 2021

2 Min Read
Grain Barge on Mississippi River
DarcyMaulsby/ThinkstockPhotos/Getty Images

The 2020/21 marketing year is slowly winding down. Today’s export sales recap from USDA, covering the week through May 6, was a fresh reminder of that fact, especially when looking at corn exports. Old crop sales fell to a marketing-year low, while new crop sales pushed total volume near the higher end of trade guesses. Soybean and wheat sales were mostly lackluster last week, meantime.

Corn exports saw just 4.5 million bushels in old crop sales last week, but new crop sales came in at 82.0 million bushels, leading to a total tally of 86.5 million bushels. That was on the higher end of trade estimates, which ranged between 31.5 million and 94.5 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2020/21 marketing year remain far ahead of last year’s pace, with 1.773 billion bushels.

Corn export shipments fell 30% week-over-week and 18% below the prior four-week average to 60.8 million bushels. China was the No. 1 destination, with 14.0 million bushels. Mexico, Japan, South Korea and Egypt rounded out the top five.

Sorghum export sales reached 2.8 million bushels last week, moving noticeably higher week-over week but still landing 63% below the prior four-week average. Cumulative totals for the 2020/21 marketing year are still close to tripling last year’s pace, with 224.7 million bushels. Sorghum export shipments were for 7.2 million bushels and are headed for China and Mexico.

Old crop soybean sales fell 43% lower week-over-week to 3.5 million bushels. New crop sales added another 3.8 million bushels, for a total of 7.3 million bushels. Analysts were generally expecting a bigger tally, with trade guesses ranging between 7.3 million and 24.6 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2020/21 marketing year still hold a commanding lead over last year’s pace, with 2.080 billion bushels.

Soybean export shipments improved 8% week-over-week but stayed 8% below the prior four-week average, with 10.5 million bushels. Mexico accounted for more than a third of the total, with 3.7 million bushels. Indonesia, Japan, Turkey and Ireland filled out the top five.

Old crop wheat exports tumbled 61% below the prior four-week average to 1.1 million bushels. New crop sales added another 9.8 million bushels, bringing the total to 10.9 million bushels. Trade guesses were varied leading up to the report, ranging between 2.8 million and 15.4 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2020/21 marketing year are still tracking slightly ahead of last year’s pace, with 845.3 million bushels.

Wheat export shipments slipped 3% below the prior four-week average, to 19.2 million bushels. China was the No. 1 destination, with 7.4 million bushels. Mexico, South Korea, Algeria and Italy rounded out the top five.

Click here for more highlights and insights from the latest USDA export report, which covers April 30 through May 6.

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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