Soybeans, already at 2-1/2 month highs from bullish USDA supply and demand data on Thursday, saw another modest lift on Friday from the latest export sales data. Strong corn volume also supported higher futures prices, while wheat exports slipped significantly from a week ago.

Soybeans posted 64.2 million bushels in old crop sales for the week ending October 5. That was nearly double the volume from the week prior (37.3 million bushels), not to mention trade estimates (38.6 million bushels).

Export shipments totaled 43.7 million bushels, up from 36.2 million bushels the week prior. About two-thirds of that volume headed to China (25.7 million bushels), with other top destinations that included Mexico (4.3 million bushels), the Netherlands (3.8 million bushels), Indonesia (3.1 million bushels) and Pakistan (2.6 million bushels). 

Corn export sales also came in well ahead of last week’s volume (32.1 million bushels) and trade estimates (37.4 million bushels), tallying up 62.7 million bushels of old crop sales and 0.6 million bushels of new crop sales. Three-fourths of the net sales are for Mexico, with other top destinations that included Japan, Colombia, Peru, South Korea and unknown destinations.

Corn export shipments slowed from the week prior, with 26.4 million bushels. Primary destinations included Mexico (13.7 million bushels), Colombia (3.3 million bushels), South Korea (2.7 million bushels), Panama (1.7 million bushels) and Guatemala (1.6 million bushels).

After two weeks of consecutive volume gains, wheat export sales lost some momentum, slipping to just 6.4 million bushels of old crop sales. That’s well behind last week’s tally of 18.1 million bushels and trade estimates of 14.7 million bushels. 

Export shipments were also lackluster, at 12.1 million bushels, down 55% from a week ago and 65% lower than the four-week average. Primary destinations included Japan (3.5 million bushels), the Philippines (1.7 million bushels), Indonesia (1.4 million bushels), Nigeria (1.3 million bushels) and Mexico (1.2 million bushels).

Accumulated soymeal export shipments for 2017/18 are 1% lower than a year ago, with 10.1 million metric tons in total volume. Accumulated soyoil export shipments, meantime, are up 6% year-over-year, with 1.1 million metric tons in total volume.

Sorghum saw net export sales of 2.0 million bushels, due to 4.6 million bushels in sales to China being partially offset by reductions of 2.6 million bushels reported from unknown destinations.

Cotton export sales were lower again this week, with 154,400 bales. That’s 4% lower than last week and 4% lower than the four-week average. Export shipments were also down 14% from a week ago and 16% from the four-week average.