For the week ending April 26, corn export inspections found semi-bullish numbers, but total marketing-year volume continues to lag behind a year ago. Soybean export inspections beat trade expectations, meantime, while wheat skated in on the low end of the trade guess range. 

Corn export inspections last week reached 57.7 million bushels, down from last week’s total of 68.4 million bushels but solidly in line with trade guesses, which ranged from 39 million to 70 million bushels. The weekly rate needed to meet USDA forecasts inched down to 52.3 million bushels. Year-to-date totals for the 2017/18 marketing year, which began September 1, reached 1.231 billion bushels, which remains almost 19% lower than last year’s pace.

Fourteen countries accounted for at least 1 million bushels of corn export inspections last week. Japan led the way with 13.2 million bushels, with other top destinations including Mexico (11.2 million), Colombia (6.4 million), South Korea (5.0 million) and Spain (2.8 million).

Soybean export inspections last week exceeded the average trade guess of 12 million to 23 million bushels with a total of 25.0 million bushels. That total was moderately better than last week’s tally of 17.4 million bushels and barely stayed ahead of the weekly rate needed to reach USDA forecasts, now at 24.5 million bushels. Cumulative totals for 2017/18 reached 1.599 billion bushels, 12% lower than 2016/17’s pace of 1.819 billion bushels.

China again was the top destination, with 9.4 million bushels, but continued its recent trend of accounting for notably less than half of all export inspections. Mexico was the week’s No. 2 destination, with 5.0 million bushels, followed by Egypt (2.1 million), Bangladesh (2.0 million) and Indonesia (1.7 million). 

Wheat export inspections of 13.8 million bushels last week was in line with the average trade guess, which ranged between 11 million and 18 million bushels. That amount was significantly below the prior week’s total of 23.7 million bushels, however, and did not match the weekly rate needed to reach USDA forecasts, now at 24.1 million bushels. So far for the 2017/18 marketing year, which began June 1, have reached 805 million bushels, versus 897 million a year ago. 

China was the No. 1 destination for U.S. wheat export inspections last week, with 4.6 million bushels. Other top destinations included Guatemala (1.7 million), Bangladesh (1.6 million), Mexico (1.3 million), Ethiopia (1.2 million) and the Philippines (1.2 million).