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Sales to China help boost last week’s results.

Ben Potter, Senior editor

July 23, 2020

2 Min Read
Corn and soybean rows with grassy field road between them.
Mark R Coons/iStock/GettyImages

The 2019/20 marketing year is winding down for corn and soybeans, and old crop sales for each crop were lackluster after digesting data from USDA’s latest weekly export sales report, covering the week ending July 16. But a surge in new crop sales left plenty of room for optimism in the latest report.

Old crop corn sales tumbled 76% week-over-week to 8.7 million bushels, but new crop sales jumped to 91.6 million bushels for a total tally of 100.3 million bushels. That was still on the lower end of trade guesses, which ranged between 74.8 million and 157.5 million bushels. China dominated all destinations, with 77.2 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2019/20 marketing year are still more than 300 million bushels behind last year’s pace, reaching 1.458 billion bushels.

Corn export shipments inched 4% above the prior week’s total but slipped 13% below the prior four-week average, with 41.4 million bushels. Mexico led all destinations, with 9.3 million bushels. Japan, China, South Korea and Peru rounded out the top five.

Sorghum exports continue to perform strongly in the 2019/20 marketing year, with another 6.0 million bushels in old and new crop sales last week. China was the sole buyer. Cumulative sales for the 2019/20 marketing year have by far eclipsed last year’s pace, with 140.1 million bushels.

Related:Weekly Export Sales – Wheat charts new marketing-year high

Old crop soybean export sales were relatively disappointing, with 13.4 million bushels, but new crop sales surged to 90.6 million bushels for a total of 104.0 million bushels. That surpassed all trade guesses, which ranged between 47.8 million and 99.2 million bushels. China accounted for more than half of the total, with 62.3 million bushels. Cumulative sales for the 2019/20 marketing year are still running a bit behind last year’s pace, with 1.426 billion bushels.

Soybean export shipments fell 19% week-over-week but firmed 8% above the prior four-week average, with 17.2 million bushels. The Netherlands topped all destinations, with 4.7 million bushels. Egypt, Mexico, China and Peru filled out the top five.

Wheat export sales rose 24% above the prior four-week average but fell 19% lower week-over-week, with 22.7 million bushels. The tally was still better than all analyst estimates, which ranged between 11.0 million and 22.0 million bushels. China topped all buyers, with 4.7 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2020/21 marketing year are now at 125.8 million bushels, trending slightly higher year-over-year.

Wheat export shipments slid 18% lower week-over-week and 6% below the prior four-week average, with 19.4 million bushels. China was the No. 1 destination, with 6.7 million bushels. South Korea, Nigeria, Chile and Mexico rounded out the top five.

Related:Weekly Export Sales – Corn tally comes in strong

Click here to see more highlights from the latest USDA export report, covering the period between July 10 and July 16.

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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