The latest grain export inspection report from USDA, out Monday morning and covering the week through July 16, held another mixed bag of data, as it often does. Corn was the clear-cut winner, accounting for more than half of all grain export inspections last week and climbing above the entire range of trade guesses. Soybeans and wheat were relatively muted, in comparison, with each charting a week-over-week decline in volume.

Corn export inspections firmed 25% above the prior week’s tally with 45.2 million bushels. Trade estimates were not quite so bullish, ranging between 25.6 million and 43.3 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2019/20 marketing year are still significantly behind last year’s pace, however, with 1.431 billion bushels.

Mexico (11.0 million) and Japan (10.2 million) returned as the top two destinations for U.S. corn export inspections – a relatively common occurrence in recent weeks. China, South Korea and Peru filed out the top five.

Sorghum export inspections were mostly steady from a week ago, pulling in another 2.8 million bushels, with 100% of that grain headed for China. Sorghum exports this marketing year have proved to be a small but inspiring success story, with cumulative totals in 2019/20 more than doubling last year’s pace to reach 165.8 million bushels.

Related:Weekly Grain Movement – Wheat jumps higher

Soybean export inspections drifted slightly below the prior week’s tally, moving to 16.6 million bushels. Analysts were generally expecting a better output, with trade guesses that ranged between 13.8 million and 22.0 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2019/20 marketing year are fractionally above last year’s pace, now at 1.408 billion bushels.

The Netherlands jumped up to lead all destinations for U.S. soybean export inspections last week, with 4.7 million bushels. Egypt, China, Mexico and Peru rounded out the top five.

Wheat export inspections were also relatively disappointing last week, falling 24% below the prior week’s tally to 18.4 million bushels. That was on the low end of trade estimates, which ranged between 16.5 million and 25.7 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2020/21 marketing year, which began in June, are still slightly above the prior year’s pace, with 131.4 million bushels.

China accounted for more than a third of all U.S. grain export inspections last week, with 6.7 million bushels. Yemen, South Korea, Chile and Mexico filled out the rest of the top five.

Click here to access the latest round of grain export inspection data from USDA.