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Export Report: Soybeans spill to marketing-year low

Corn and wheat volume fade moderately lower week-over-week.

Ben Potter, Senior editor

February 23, 2024

2 Min Read
Soybeans and money
Getty Images/Simaz Oran

USDA’s latest set of export sales data, out Friday morning and covering the week through February 15, held mostly bearish numbers for traders to digest. Soybeans slumped to a marketing-year low after tumbling 84% below the prior four-week average. Wheat sales were down 33% week-over-week, and corn sales eroded 37% below the prior week’s tally.

Corn exports reached 39.3 million bushels in combined old and new crop sales last week. Old crop sales were 30% below the prior four-week average. Total sales were toward the lower end of analyst estimates, which ranged between 27.6 million and 61.0 million bushels. Cumulative sales for the 2023/24 marketing year are still trending moderately above last year’s pace so far after reaching 747.3 million bushels.

Corn export shipments firmed 16% above the prior four-week average to 40.3 million bushels. Mexico, Japan, Colombia, Saudi Arabia and Honduras were the top five destinations.

Sorghum exports fell noticeably lower week-over-week after only reaching 323,000 bushels. China was the lone destination. Cumulative totals for the 2023/24 marketing year are still substantially above last year’s pace so far, with 127.3 million bushels.

Soybean export sales tumbled to a marketing-year low of 2.1 million bushels. That was well below the entire range of analyst estimates, which came in between 11.0 million and 31.2 million bushels. Cumulative volume for the 2023/24 marketing year remains moderately behind last year’s pace so far, with 1.161 billion bushels.

Soybean export shipments slid 8% below the prior four-week average, with 44.0 million bushels. China, Mexico, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea were the top five destinations.

Wheat exports reached 10.3 million bushels in combined old and new crop sales last week. Old crop sales tracked 38% below the prior four-week average. Total sales were below the entire set of trade guesses, which ranged between 11.0 million and 23.0 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2023/24 marketing year are modestly lower than last year’s pace so far, with 436.2 million bushels.

Wheat export shipments were down 8% week-over-week but still 14% above the prior four-week average, with 13.7 million bushels. Japan, China, the Philippines, Mexico and South Korea were the top five destinations.

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

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Exports

About the Author

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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