The latest set of grain export inspection data from USDA, out Monday morning and covering the week through December 7, didn’t have a lot of bullish data for traders to digest. Soybeans led the way but were still moderately lower than the prior week’s tally and on the lower end of analyst estimates. Corn also shifted lower week-over-week and nearly fell below the entire range of trade guesses. Wheat made moderate week-over-week gains and posted rangebound results, meantime.

Corn export inspections only made it to 28.0 million bushels last week. Analysts were generally expecting a bigger haul, offering trade guesses that ranged between 27.6 million and 46.3 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2023/24 marketing year are still trending moderately higher than last year’s pace so far, reaching 361.4 million bushels.

Mexico was the No. 1 destination for U.S. corn export inspections last week, with 11.8 million bushels. China, Colombia, Japan and Honduras rounded out the top five.

Sorghum export inspections jumped to 13.4 million bushels last week, thanks to big purchases from China. Sudan, Djibouti and Mexico also accounted for a modest part of that total. Cumulative totals for the 2023/24 marketing year have almost quadrupled last year’s pace so far, with 56.1 million bushels.

Soybean export inspections reached 36.2 million bushels last week. That was toward the lower end of analyst estimates, which ranged between 25.7 million and 58.8 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2023/24 marketing year are still tracking moderately lower than last year’s pace so far, with 725.4 million bushels since the start of September.

China was by far the No. 1 destination for U.S. soybean export inspections last week, with 18.5 million bushels. Mexico, Germany, Egypt and Afghanistan filled out the top five.

Wheat export inspections were pedestrian after only reaching 10.4 million bushels last week. Still, that was moderately higher than the prior week’s tally and near the middle of trade guesses. Cumulative totals for the 2023/24 marketing year remain moderately below last year’s pace so far, with 316.2 million bushels.

Japan was the top destination for U.S. wheat export inspections last week, with 3.1 million bushels. Mexico, the Philippines, Italy and Singapore rounded out the top five.

Click here for more highlights from the latest USDA grain export inspection report, which covers the week through December 7.