USDA’s new set of grain export inspection data, out Monday morning and covering the week through April 27, held mixed but mostly bullish numbers for traders to digest. Corn led the way, trending moderately higher week-over-week and moving above the entire range of analyst estimates. Soybean volume was also higher than week-ago results. Wheat volume eased slightly but still stayed on the upper end of trade guesses.

Corn export inspections improved 62% from the prior week’s tally, reaching 59.8 million bushels. That was above the entire range of trade estimates, which came in between 27.6 million and 53.1 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2022/23 marketing year are still trending well below last year’s pace, however, with 941.0 million bushels.

Japan was the No. 1 destination for U.S. corn export inspections last week, with 21.0 million bushels. Mexico, China, Colombia and Taiwan rounded out the top five.

Sorghum export inspections nearly doubled from the prior week’s tally, reaching 4.3 million bushels. That grain is largely bound for China, with Mexico picking up the modest remainder. Cumulative totals for the 2022/23 marketing year are still substantially behind last year’s pace, with 55.7 million bushels.

Soybean export inspections slightly firmed above last week’s total after reaching 14.8 million bushels. That was near the middle of analyst estimates, which ranged between 7.3 million and 25.7 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2022/23 marketing year are still tracking slightly ahead of last year’s pace, with 1.744 billion bushels.

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China was again the No. 1 destination for U.S. soybean export inspections last week, with 7.2 million bushels. Germany, Mexico, South Korea and Colombia filled out the top five.

Wheat export inspections made it to 13.2 million bushels, which was slightly lower than the prior week’s tally of 13.4 million bushels. That was also toward the higher end of trade estimates, which ranged between 7.3 million and 14.7 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2022/23 marketing year are slightly below last year’s pace so far, with 670.5 million bushels.

Egypt was the No. 1 destination for U.S. wheat export inspections last week, with 2.0 million bushels. Kenya, Ethiopia, Japan and Mexico rounded out the top five.

Click here for more highlights from the latest USDA grain export inspection report, covering the week through April 27.