USDA’s latest weekly grain export report didn’t have a lot of bullish news to offer for the week ending April 9. Soybean sales fell to a marketing-year low, with corn and wheat taking a moderate spill versus the prior week’s tally. Sorghum sales are arguably the lone bright spot in the latest report after nearly doubling its year-over-year pace.

Corn export sales retreated 51% from last week’s mammoth effort to 35.7 million bushels in old crop sales plus another 2.5 million bushels in new crop sales. That was well within the range of analyst estimates of 29.5 million to 61.0 million bushels, however. Japan was the top buyer, with 11.4 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2019/20 marketing year climbed to 819.6 million bushels but remain woefully behind last year’s pace of 1.270 billion bushels.

Corn export shipments slipped 5% from a week ago but firmed 12% above the prior four-week average, with 48.1 million bushels. Mexico was the No. 1 destination, with 13.7 million bushels, followed by Japan, South Korea, Colombia and the Dominican Republic.

Sorghum exports landed another 2.9 million bushels in net sales last week after increases to China, South Korea and Japan were partially offset by reductions to unknown destinations. Cumulative sales for the 2019/20 marketing year are nearly double last year’s pace, with 61.9 million bushels. Sorghum export shipments were also up noticeably from a week ago, with 5.8 million bushels sent to China and Mexico.

Soybean export sales tumbled to a marketing-year low with just under 9.0 million bushels – spilling 53% below last week’s tally and 68% below the prior four-week average. That was also below all trade guesses, which ranged between 13.8 million and 33.1 million bushels. Another 2.2 million bushels of new crop sales were booked by unknown destinations last week. Cumulative totals for the 2019/20 marketing year maintain a slim lead over a year ago, with 1.199 billion bushels.

Soybean export shipments fared better, climbing 45% higher week-over-week and 9% above the prior four-week average to 19.3 million bushels. Egypt was the No. 1 destination, with 8.7 million bushels. Mexico, China, Indonesia and Japan rounded out the top five.

Wheat old crop sales were lackluster, sliding 31% below last week’s pace and 49% below the prior four-week average to 6.6 million bushels. New crop sales were more robust, reaching 15.4 million bushels. Analysts estimated total sales last week would range between 9.2 million and 23.9 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2019/20 marketing year remain moderately higher than last year’s pace, with 767.1 million bushels.

Wheat export shipments, in contrast, climbed to a marketing-year high of 26.5 million bushels. No one country dominated that total, but the Philippines reached the No. 1 position with 4.4 million bushels. Other top destinations last week included Mexico, Nigeria, South Korea and Japan.

Click here for last week’s entire export sales data set from USDA.