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Corn, soybeans and wheat fail to impress in USDA’s latest report

Ben Potter, Senior editor

November 3, 2022

2 Min Read
Illustration of two container ships facing each other on the water, one with USA flag
iStockphoto

The latest round of export sales data from USDA, out Thursday morning and covering the week through October 27, didn’t have a lot of bullish numbers for traders to digest. Soybean and wheat tallies were lackluster, coming in on the lower end of analyst estimates. Corn fared better but still posted pedestrian totals that were near the middle of trade guesses.

Corn export sales reached 14.7 million bushels last week. That was near the middle of analyst estimates, which ranged between 9.8 million and 26.6 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2022/23 marketing year are trending moderately below last year’s pace so far, with 163.2 million bushels.

Corn export shipments came in at 17.7 million bushels last week. China was the No. 1 destination, with 5.7 million bushels. Mexico, Japan, Jamaica and Taiwan rounded out the top five.

Sorghum export sales only reached 480,000 bushels last week. All of that grain is bound for Mexico. Cumulative totals for the 2022/23 marketing year have been very disappointing so far, with just 1.7 million bushels – far behind last year’s pace of 10.6 million bushels.

Soybean export sales only reached 30.5 million bushels last week. Analysts were generally expecting to see a bigger haul, with trade guesses ranging between 25.7 million and 61.5 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2022/23 marketing year are slightly behind last year’s pace so far, with 363.4 million bushels.

Soybean export shipments were much more robust, climbing to 97.4 million bushels. China accounted for the bulk of that total, with 73.3 million bushels. The Netherlands, Egypt, Mexico and Germany filled out the top five.

Wheat export sales made it to 12.8 million bushels last week. That was toward the lower end of trade estimates, which ranged between 7.3 million and 23.9 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2022/23 marketing year are still slightly above last year’s pace, with 323.9 million bushels.

Wheat export shipments were disappointing, with just 4.3 million bushels. Mexico accounted for roughly half of that total, with 2.2 million bushels. Taiwan, Trinidad and Tobago, South Korea and Vietnam rounded out the top five.

Click here to see more results from USDA’s latest 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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