As is often the case with these reports, USDA’s latest set of grain export inspection data, released Monday morning and covering the week through March 23, offered a mixed bag of numbers for traders to crunch. Soybeans turned in the strongest performance, moving moderately higher week-over-week and staying near the higher end of analyst estimates. Wheat volume also improved from week-ago totals and bested most trade guesses. Corn volume was lackluster, in contrast, coming in at nearly half of the prior week’s tally.

Corn export inspections tumbled well below the prior week’s total to 26.2 million bushels. That was also below the entire range of analyst estimates, which came in between 27.6 million and 55.1 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2022/23 marketing year remain well below last year’s pace so far, with 716.3 million bushels since the beginning of September.

Mexico was the No. 1 destination for U.S. corn export inspections last week, with 10.3 million bushels. Colombia, China, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic rounded out the top five.

Sorghum export inspections nearly doubled the prior week’s volume, moving to 7.0 million bushels. China accounted for more than 99% of that total, with Mexico picking up the modest remainder. Cumulative totals for the 2022/23 marketing year are only trending at around one-fourth of last year’s pace so far, with 43.0 million bushels.

Soybean export inspections moved moderately above the prior week’s total to 32.7 million bushels. That was on the very high end of analyst estimates, which ranged between 9.2 million and 33.1 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2022/23 marketing year are still slightly above last year’s pace so far, with 1.652 billion bushels.

China was the No. 1 destination for U.S. soybean export inspections last week, with 18.6 million bushels. Mexico, Germany, Indonesia and Egypt filled out the top five.

Wheat export inspections moved slightly above the prior week’s total, reaching 14.4 million bushels. That was also toward the higher end of trade estimates, which ranged between 7.3 million and 16.5 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2022/23 marketing year remain slightly below last year’s pace, with 612.9 million bushels.

Mexico topped all destinations for U.S. wheat export inspections last week, with 3.2 million bushels. China, South Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines rounded out the top five.

Click here for more highlights from the latest USDA grain export inspection report, covering the week through March 16.