The latest USDA export report, out Thursday morning and covering the week through May 11, held mixed but mostly bearish data for traders to digest. In fact, it may prove to be one of the worst weeks of the 2022/23 marketing year.

Old crop corn and wheat sales carved out new marketing-year lows. New crop wheat sales lifted total sales back above zero, but that wasn’t the case for corn. In sharp contrast, soybeans were a pleasant surprise after combined sales climbed above the entire set of analyst estimates made prior to today’s report.

Corn exports saw old crop net sales reductions of 13.3 million bushels. New crop sales added 2.9 million bushels, leaving a total net reduction of 10.4 million bushels. That was on the low end of trade guesses, which ranged between net reductions of 17.7 million bushels and net sales of 23.6 million bushels. Cumulative sales for the 2022/23 marketing year are roughly 600 million bushels below last year’s pace so far after reaching 1.087 billion bushels last week.

Corn export shipments were more robust, with 42.8 million bushels. Mexico, China, Japan, the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica were the top five destinations.

Sorghum sales also spilled to a marketing year low last week, with net reductions of around 145,000 bushels, due to decreases from China. Total sales during the 2022/23 marketing year are less than a fourth of last year’s pace so far, with 47.4 million bushels.

Soybean exports saw just 625,000 bushels in old crop sales last week, but thanks to a healthy dose of new crop sales that reached 24.4 million bushels, total sales came in at 25.0 million bushels. That was better than the entire set of trade guesses, which ranged between zero and 22.0 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2022/23 marketing year are just below last year’s pace so far, with 1.752 billion bushels.

Soybean export shipments eroded 60% below the prior four-week average to 6.9 million bushels. Mexico, Egypt, the Philippines, Indonesia and Venezuela were the top five destinations.

Wheat saw net old crop sales reductions of 1.5 million bushels, but an influx of new crop sales led to a total tally of 10.8 million bushels. That was on the very low end of analyst estimates, which ranged between 9.2 million and 20.2 million bushels. Cumulative sales for the 2022/23 marketing year are trending slightly behind last year’s pace, with 621.1 million bushels.

Wheat export shipments were 13% below the prior four-week average, with 8.0 million bushels. Japan, the Philippines, Mexico, Nigeria and Algeria were the top five destinations.

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