Export sales: Soybeans continue to slumpExport sales: Soybeans continue to slump

USDA’s latest batch of export sales data, out Thursday morning and covering the week through March 2, held a decidedly mixed bag of numbers for traders to consider. Corn sales proved the most bullish after jumping noticeably higher week-over-week and exceeding the entire range of trade estimates. Soybeans told a different story entirely, with old crop sales spilling to a new marketing-year low. Wheat sales were rangebound last week.

Corn sales were impressive, posting a combined 60.0 million bushels in old and new crop sales. Old crop sales climbed 57% above the prior four-week average. Total sales were higher than the entire range of trade guesses, which came in between 23.6 million and 55.1 million bushels. Cumulative sales for the 2022/23 marketing year remain substantially below last year’s pace, however, with 633.1 million bushels.

Corn export shipments reached a marketing-year high of 41.4 million bushels after besting the prior four-week average by 74%. Mexico, Colombia, Japan, South Korea and Guatemala were the top five destinations.

Sorghum export sales improved 93% above the prior four-week average to 6.1 million bushels. The entirety of that grain is bound for China. Cumulative sales for the 2022/23 marketing year are still noticeably below last year’s pace, with 20.5 million bushels.

Soybean old crop sales faded to a marketing-year low after posting net reductions of around 850,000 bushels. New crop sales lifted the total volume to a net positive of 5.5 million bushels. That was below the entire range of trade estimates, which came in between 7.3 million and 34.9 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2022/23 marketing year are still trending slightly above last year’s pace, with 1.548 billion bushels.

Soybean export shipments fell 62% below the prior four-week average, with 21.3 million bushels. China, Mexico, Japan, Indonesia and Vietnam were the top five destinations.

Wheat exports saw 12.4 million bushels in total sales last week. Old crop sales firmed 11% above the prior four-week average. Sales were near the middle of analyst estimates, which ranged between 5.5 million and 22.0 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2022/23 marketing year are running slightly below last year’s pace, with 525.0 million bushels.

Wheat export shipments were down 24% from the prior four-week average, with 13.9 million bushels. China, Mexico, the Philippines, South Korea and Tunisia were the top five destinations.

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