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Soybean and wheat volumes stay within the range of analyst expectations.

Ben Potter, Senior editor

May 23, 2022

2 Min Read
Bulk carrier ship in river port. Dry cargo grain elevator trade. Agrarian maritime facility. Cargo ship in the sea. Sunset vi
Getty/iStockphoto

The latest round of grain export inspection data from USDA, out Monday morning and covering the week through May 19, held mixed but mostly positive data for traders to digest. Corn led the way once again, moving moderately higher week-over-week and posting better-than-expected results. Soybeans and wheat were more lackluster – both commodities trended lower versus week-ago results but stayed within the range of trade guesses.

Corn export inspections climbed to 66.9 million bushels last week. That was better than the entire range of trade guesses, which came in between 23.6 million and 59.1 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2021/22 marketing year remain moderately below last year’s pace, however, with 1.608 billion bushels.

China was the dominant destination for U.S. corn export inspections last week, accounting for 31.2 million bushels. Japan, Mexico, South Korea and Colombia rounded out the top five.

Sorghum export inspections eased fractionally lower week-over-week to 7.8 million bushels. That grain is largely bound for China, with Mexico accounting for the small remainder. Cumulative totals for the 2021/22 marketing year have moved slightly ahead of last year’s pace, with 235.4 million bushels.

Soybean export inspections tilted moderately below the prior week’s tally, with 21.2 million bushels. It was also a bit on the lower end of trade estimates, which ranged between 14.7 million and 33.1 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2021/22 marketing year are still well behind last year’s pace, with 1.804 billion bushels.

China was again the No. 1 destination for U.S. soybean export inspections last week, with 6.0 million bushels. Mexico, Egypt, Germany and Indonesia filled out the top five.

Wheat export inspections shifted 11% below the prior week’s pace to 11.4 million bushels. That was good enough to come close to the middle of trade estimates, which ranged between 5.5 million and 18.4 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2021/22 marketing year are still moderately behind last year’s pace after moving to 723.3 million bushels.

Japan was the top destination for U.S. wheat export inspections last week, with 4.0 million bushels. Mexico, the Philippines and Nigeria were the only other destinations of note.

Click here to see more data from the latest USDA grain export inspection report.

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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