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Wheat sales also down week-over-week, as soybean shipments fall to marketing-year low

Ben Potter, Senior editor

May 29, 2020

2 Min Read
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AG SHIPPERS SPEAK OUT: During House subcommittee hearing June 15, ag industry members discuss lasting negative impact as ocean carriers to decline to carry U.S. agriculture commodity exports.3dmentat/ThinkstockPhotos

USDA didn’t offer a lot of bullish data in its latest export sales report, out Friday morning. The report, which showed sales for the week ending May 21, saw volume for corn, soybeans and wheat all slide lower compared to their prior four-week averages.

Corn saw 16.8 million bushels in old crop sales plus just 1.8 million bushels in new crop sales for a total tally of 18.6 million bushels. Analysts were expecting a much more robust tally, with trade guesses ranging between 21.7 million and 51.2 million bushels. Old crop sales tanked 58% below the prior four-week tally. Cumulative sales for the 2019/20 marketing year are still significantly below last year’s pace, now at 1.089 billion bushels.

Corn export shipments were better but still 16% below the prior four-week average, with 41.8 million bushels. Mexico was the No. 1 destination, with 12.6 million bushels. Japan, Colombia, Israel and Honduras rounded out the top five.

Sorghum export sales continue to perform handsomely this year, notching another 7.1 million bushels last week. China bought nearly all of that total. Cumulative sales for the 2019/20 marketing year are still more than double last year’s pace after reaching 99.6 million bushels.

Soybean export sales were also down significantly week-over-week, falling to 23.7 million bushels in old crop sales plus another 7.5 million bushels in new crop sales. That was on the low end of analyst expectations, with trade guesses ranging between 22.0 million and 51.4 million bushels. One silver lining – China returned as the No.1 buyer, accounting for nearly half the total with 14.4 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2019/20 marketing year are still slightly ahead of last year’s pace, with 1.302 billion bushels.

Related:Weekly Export Sales – Soybean sales surge

Soybean export shipments tumbled to a marketing-year low, with just 12.2 million bushels. Mexico led the way, with 4.3 million bushels. Japan, Egypt, Indonesia and Malaysia filled out the top five.

Wheat export sales improved slightly week-over-week but still fell 23% below the prior four-week average, with 7.7 million bushels in old crop sales. New crop sales were more robust, at 18.2 million bushels. Totals sales still bested trade estimates, which ranged between 5.5 million and 22.0 million bushels. And cumulative sales for the 2019/20 marketing year still maintain a modest lead over last year’s pace, with 871.7 million bushels.

Wheat export shipments fared much better, jumping 53% higher week-over-week and 29% above the prior four-week average, with 20.6 million bushels. China was the No. 1 destination, with 6.1 million bushels. Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan and Mexico filled out the top five.

Related:Weekly Export Sales – Corn stays strong, wheat disappoints

Click here to see the entire latest export sales data from USDA.

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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