USDA’s latest set of grain export sales data, out Thursday morning and covering the week through February 22, held another bag of mixed numbers for traders to consider. Corn volume came in strong again, moving 32% higher from the prior week and staying near the top of analyst estimates. Wheat sales were near the prior four-week average, while soybeans spilled to the very low end of trade guesses.

Corn exports reached 49.1 million bushels in combined old and new sales last week. Old crop sales moved 32% higher week-over-week but were still 5% below the prior four-week average. Totals sales were on the very high end of analyst estimates, which ranged between 23.6 million and 53.1 million bushels. Cumulative sales for the 2023/24 marketing year remain moderately ahead of last year’s pace so far, with 795.1 million bushels.

Corn export shipments were 34% better than the prior four-week average after reaching 47.9 million bushels. Mexico, Japan, Colombia, South Korea and Canada were the top five destinations.

Sorghum export sales jumped to a marketing-year high of 17.5 million bushels, which will be sent to China and unknown destinations. Cumulative sales are still considerably above last year’s pace after reaching 132.2 million bushels.

Soybean exports were lackluster again last week after only reaching 5.9 million bushels, which was 30% lower than the prior four-week average. Analysts were generally expecting to see a larger volume after offering trade guesses that ranged between 3.7 million and 23.9 million bushels. Cumulative sales for the 2023/24 marketing year are still tracking moderately below last year’s pace, with 1.202 billion bushels.

Soybean export shipments slid 16% below the prior four-week average, with 40.5 million bushels. China, the Netherlands, Mexico, South Korea and Japan were the top five destinations.

Wheat exports found 11.8 million bushels in combined old and new crop sales last week. Old crop sales moved 40% higher week-over-week and 2% above the prior four-week average. Total sales were still near the lower end of analyst estimates, which ranged between 7.3 million and 22.0 million bushels. Cumulative sales for the 2023/24 marketing year are modestly below last year’s pace so far, with 456.0 million bushels.

Wheat export shipments were robust, climbing 58% above the prior four-week average to 19.8 million bushels. Japan, the Philippines, China, Mexico and Egypt were the top five destinations.

Click here for more highlights from the latest UDSA export sales report.