Weekly Grain Movement – Corn stays steady, wheat improvesWeekly Grain Movement – Corn stays steady, wheat improves

The latest batch of grain export inspection data from USDA, out Monday morning and covering the week through July 15, didn’t have a lot of market-moving numbers for traders to digest. Corn volume tracked fractionally lower from a week ago, while soybeans saw moderate declines and wheat trended moderately higher week-over-week. Corn and soybeans are still on pace for huge year-over-year gains as the 2021/22 marketing season moves nearer to completion.

Corn export inspections eased slightly to 39.4 million bushels last week. That total tilted a bit toward the lower end of trade estimates, which ranged between 31.5 million and 51.2 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2020/21 marketing year are maintaining a commanding lead over last year’s pace, reaching 2.369 billion bushels.

China again was the No. 1 destination for U.S. corn export inspections last week, raking in nearly half of the grand total with 18.1 million bushels. Mexico, Japan, Colombia and Nicaragua rounded out the top five.

Sorghum export inspections eased slightly from a week ago, moving to 2.5 million bushels. China accounted for more than 90% of that total, with Mexico picking up the slim remainder. Cumulative totals for the 2020/21 marketing year are maintaining a healthy lead over last year’s pace, reaching 260.6 million bushels.

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Soybean export inspections saw moderate declines this past week, dropping to 5.3 million bushels. That was also on the lower end of trade guesses, which ranged between 3.7 million and 11.0 million bushels. But cumulative totals for the 2020/21 marketing year are still well above last year’s pace, moving to 2.124 billion bushels.

Japan topped all destinations for U.S. soybean export inspections last week, with just under 2.0 million bushels. Mexico, Indonesia, Colombia and Vietnam filled out the top five.

Wheat export inspections improved 15% from a week ago to reach 18.0 million bushels. That was also on the higher end of analyst estimates, which ranged between 10.1 million and 20.2 million bushels. Through the first six weeks of the 2021/22 marketing year, volume has reached 103.5 million bushels, trending moderately below last year’s pace so far.

The Philippines led all destinations for U.S. wheat export inspections last week, with 4.4 million bushels. Mexico, China, Nigeria and Colombia rounded out the top five.

Click here to read more highlights from the latest USDA grain export inspection report.