For the week ending December 13, weekly grain export inspections for corn, soybeans and wheat all moved slightly to moderately ahead of the prior week’s tally. The latest USDA data helped to keep soybean and wheat futures buoyant upon its release, with corn futures still down fractionally Monday morning.

Corn export inspections last week reached 34.8 million bushels, moving slightly ahead of the prior week’s total of 34.5 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2018/19 marketing year, which began September 1, are now at 629.6 million bushels, trending 73% higher year-over-year.

Japan was the top destination for U.S. corn export inspections last week, with 11.6 million bushels, narrowly edging out Mexico (11.3 million). Other top destinations included Colombia (4.3 million), Taiwan (3.1 million) and the Dominican Republic (1.7 million).

Soybean export inspections reached 35.8 million bushels last week, moving slightly higher than the prior week’s tally of 34.0 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2018/19 marketing year, which began September 1, are now at 557 million bushels, down more than 41% compared to the same point a year ago.

Spain was the No. 1 destination for U.S. soybean export inspections last week, with 8.5 million bushels. Other top destinations included Taiwan (3.4 million), Mexico (3.1 million), the Netherlands (3.1 million) and Japan (2.9 million).

Wheat export inspections reached 25.1 million bushels last week, moving 52% ahead of the prior week’s total of 16.5 million bushels. Cumulative year-to-date totals for the 2018/19 marketing year, which began June 1, topped 430 million bushels but remain nearly 15% below the pace of 2017/18.

Mexico was the No. 1 destination for U.S. wheat export inspections last week, with 3.3 million bushels. Other top destinations include Taiwan (3.0 million), Japan (2.9 million) and the Philippines (2.4 million).