Foreign buyers stocked up on corn, soybeans and wheat this past week as purchases of all three were up sharply from the prior week and topped trade forecasts.

A bulge in new-crop soybean business in USDA’s weekly export report had been expected after USDA last week announced the sale of nearly 47.8 million bushels to China via its daily reporting system for big sales.

Old-crop corn sales of 18.4 million bushels were more than double the prior week’s but went to usual customers in Asia and Latin America. Sales were led by Japan, Mexico and Peru. The sales easily topped the pace needed to meet USDA’s annual forecast. New-crop sales of nearly 8.4 million topped forecasts in a Reuters’ poll with Mexico, unknown destinations and Colombia the lead buyers.

Old-crop soybean sales of nearly 15.1 million bushels were up 80% from the prior week to keep annual sales above USDA’s forecasted amount. Unknown destinations, Mexico, and China led buyers. New-crop sales of 56 million were up sharply from the prior week with China the largest buyer followed by unknown destinations and Costa Rica.

The wheat sales of 24.6 million were led by the Philippines, South Korea and Mexico.

“Wheat is the surprise, showing end users are starting to become concerned about supplies of high quality wheat. U.S. hard red winter wheat in the cash market is still cheap and protein appears better than early indications,” Farm Futures senior grain analyst Bryce Knorr said of the sales. “Soybeans were expected due to the Chinese delegation.”

A delegation of Chinese buyers last week signed deals to buy more than 460 million bushels of U.S. soybeans. A day later, USDA reported the sale of 47.8 million bushels.

Chicago corn futures rose 1 to 2 cents after the export report and before the overnight session closed, while the soybean and wheat markets had little movement after the report.

CBOT August soybeans closed the overnight session up 6-1/2 cents and September corn was up 5 cents. CBOT September SRW wheat was down 1-1/4 and Kansas City’s September hard red winter wheat finished the overnight session down 1. Spring wheat for September closed 5 cents lower.

Soymeal export sales of 41,400 metric tons were up sharply from the prior week and matched trade forecasts. Venezuela, Columbia, and Canada led buyers. New-crop business of 75,900 tons was down 44% from a week ago and matched forecasts with the Philippines, Canada and Mexico the leading buyers.

Soybean oil sales of 25,400 metric tons were up 57% from the prior week and were on the high end of the trade forecasts with the Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Mexico the leading buyers.

Sorghum sales of 2.24 million bushels were down slightly from a week ago and went to China. New-crop sales of nearly 2.6 million went to unknown destinations.

Click on the link below to see charts and graphs showing more information about grain exports.