China is far from the biggest buyer of U.S. corn - that honor still goes to Japan, which again led the list of customers in the lately export sales tally. But China remains the talk of the market, for better or worse.

Today’s weekly export sales totals revealed mixed results on that count. USDA reported old crop sales hit 40.5 million bushels, with shipments almost 49 million. Old crop sales to China totaled 9.5 million bushels, with most of the deals posted earlier under USDA’s daily reporting system.

However, China also led the list of new crop cancellations, helping to take the total for the week down to 33.7 million bushels, well below trade guesses.

Traders continue to debate just how much corn China could import this year, to fill a gap caused by a short crop last fall. But the cancellations could mean buyers there are beginning to feel more comfortable about new crop production.

China remains the leading buyer of soybeans, taking another load of old crop from the U.S. last week, in addition to two more cargoes of new crop. Still the total for the week, just under 11 million bushels, was around half the pre-report estimate from analysts.

Wheat business, meanwhile, remains steady if unspectacular. Old and new crop buyers from Asia and the Americas were again joined by Nigeria, which has become a leading destination for the U.S. this year. Most of the deals involved hard red winter wheat, which should be in more than adequate supplies over the next year.

For the complete export report, click here.