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Corn and wheat sales also relatively muted this week.

Ben Potter, Senior editor

July 2, 2020

3 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

Last Thursday, USDA’s weekly export report held mostly positive data for corn, soybean and wheat sales but there was no encore in this morning’s report, covering the week through June 25. Old crop soybean sales tumbled to a marketing-year low (although new crop sales fared much better), while corn and wheat sales also posted mostly lackluster results this past week. One big exception – corn export shipments boosted to a marketing-year high this week.

Soybeans saw net old crop sales of just 8.9 million bushels, plus another 30.9 million bushels of new crop sales, for a total of 39.8 million bushels. That fell in the middle of trade guesses, which ranged between 22.0 million and 58.8 million bushels. Egypt (3.0 million) bought the most old crop sales, while China (21.8 million) captured the lions’ share of new crop sales. Cumulative totals for the 2019/20 marketing year have slipped below last year’s pace after reaching 1.370 billion bushels.

Soybean export shipments were up 29% from a week ago and 6% above the prior four-week average, with 14.3 million bushels. Egypt was the No. 1 destination, with 5.4 million bushels. Mexico, Japan, Morocco and Colombia filled out the top five.

Corn exports saw old crop sales totaling 14.2 million bushels, plus another 10.3 million bushels in new crop sales, for a total of 24.5 million bushels. That was enough to put this week’s tally in the middle of trade guesses, which ranged between 17.7 million and 35.4 million bushels. Old crop sales were down 32% compared to the prior four-week average. Japan topped all destinations, with 13.4 million bushels in total sales. Cumulative totals for the 2019/20 marketing year are still down more than 350 million bushels versus a year ago, at 1.334 billion bushels.

Related:Weekly Export Sales – China buys soybeans, wheat

Corn export shipments climbed to a marketing-year high with 56.7 million bushels, which was 21% better than the prior four-week average. Japan was the No. 1 destination, with almost 18.0 million bushels. Mexico, South Korea, China and Colombia rounded out the top five.

Sorghum exports grabbed another 8.3 million bushels in old crop and new crop sales last week. China remains the top buyer, but unknown destinations and Japan also stepped up last week. Cumulative totals for the 2019/20 marketing year are still well ahead of last year’s pace, with 130.4 million bushels.

Wheat export sales saw 15.2 million bushels last week in old crop sales, plus another 2.6 million in new crop sales, which was in the middle of trade estimates that ranged between 9.2 million and 22.0 million bushels. Taiwan was the top buyer last week, with 3.3 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2020/21 marketing year are now at 69 million bushels, which is slightly below the prior year’s pace of 71.4 million bushels.

Related:Weekly Export Sales – Soybeans chalk up big numbers again

Wheat export shipments reached 18.6 million bushels last week. The Philippines topped all destinations, with 6.1 million bushels. Japan, Indonesia, Nigeria and Mexico filled out the top five.

Click here to see more highlights from the latest USDA export report, covering the period between June 19 and June 25.

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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