Weekly export inspections for the week ending October 18 saw corn, soybean and wheat totals decline slightly from the prior week as the current 2018/19 marketing year marches along for all three crops. 

Corn export inspects eased from the prior week’s total of 39.2 million bushels down to 37.4 million bushels, which was on the low end of the average trade guess of 35.4 million to 47.2 million bushels. Marketing year-to-date totals are now 308 million bushels – still substantially ahead of the prior year’s pace of 179 million bushels.

Last week, Mexico was again the top destination for U.S. corn export inspections, with 9.1 million bushels. Other top destinations included Colombia (7.9 million), Japan (6.9 million), China (3.2 million) and Israel (2.3 million).

Sorghum export inspections continued to languish last week, adding just another 370,000 bushels. Kenya was the leading destination, accounting for about two-thirds of the total, with Mexico taking the remainder. 

Soybean export inspections reached 42.2 million bushels for the week ending October 18, which was fractionally below the prior week’s tally of 42.5 million bushels and on the high end of trade estimates, which ranged between 37.1 million and 44.1 million bushels. Marketing year-to-date totals for 2018/19 remain nearly 40% behind the prior marketing year, with 218 million bushels. 

Last week, Egypt was the top destination for U.S. soybean export inspections, with 6.0 million bushels. Other top destinations included Spain (4.6 million), the Netherlands (3.1 million), Mexico (3.0 million) and Iran (2.4 million). China also entered the fray last week with modest inspections totaling 3.1 million bushels. 

Wheat export inspections reached 14.1 million bushels last week, down moderately from the prior week’s total of 16.6 million bushels and nearly in the middle of trade estimates, which ranged between 11.0 million to 18.4 million bushels. Marketing year-to-date totals of 302 million bushels remain relatively suppressed from the prior year’s pace of 398 million bushels. 

The Philippines retained the top spot for U.S. wheat export inspections last week, with 2.1 million bushels – followed closely by China (just under 2.1 million) and Indonesia (1.9 million). Other top destinations included Italy (1.8 million), Nigeria (1.6 million) and Venezuela (1.0 million).