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Soybean and wheat volumes also move higher again week-over-week.

Ben Potter, Senior editor

May 17, 2021

2 Min Read
stevanovicigor/iStock/GettyImages

USDA’s latest batch of grain export inspection data, out Monday morning and covering the week through May 13, held mostly positive news for traders to digest after corn, soybeans and wheat all notched moderate week-over-week gains. Corn volume stayed on the upper end of trade guesses, while soybeans and wheat exceeded the entire range of analyst estimates this past week.

Corn export inspections reached 74.5 million bushels last week, moving 10.3% above the prior week’s tally. It was also on the higher end of trade estimates, which ranged between 51.2 million and 86.6 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2020/21 marketing year widened an already impressive lead over last year’s pace, moving to 1.852 billion bushels.

China was by far the No. 1 destination for U.S. corn export inspections last week, with 36.9 million bushels. Mexico, Japan, Colombia and Israel rounded out the top five.

Sorghum export inspections spilled lower week-over-week to 2.4 million bushels. More than 99% of the total is bound for China, with Mexico and Japan taking the tiny remainder. Cumulative totals for the 2020/21 marketing year remain well ahead of last year’s pace, with 228.5 million bushels.

Soybean export inspections improved to 11.3 million bushels. That total was also above the entire range of trade guesses, which came in between 3.7 million and 9.2 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2020/21 marketing year are still trending about 61% above last year’s pace, with 2.058 billion bushels.

Japan led all destinations for U.S. soybean export inspections last week, with 3.4 million bushels. Mexico, Egypt, South Korea and Indonesia filled out the top five.

Wheat export inspections improved another 17% week over week to reach 24.2 million bushels. That was better than the entire range of trade guesses, which came in between 11.0 million and 22.0 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2020/21 slightly widened its slim lead over last year’s pace, moving to 895.6 million bushels.

The Philippines topped all destinations for U.S. wheat export inspections last week, with 4.1 million bushels. Nigeria, China, South Korea and Japan rounded out the top five.

Click here to read more highlights 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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