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Corn and wheat volume fail to catch the prior week’s volume.

Ben Potter, Senior editor

April 4, 2022

2 Min Read
Cargo ship loading grain for transport
Getty/iStockphoto/cpsnell

USDA’s new set of grain export inspection data, out Monday morning and covering the week through March 31, showed mostly bullish numbers for traders to digest. Corn volume continues to lead the way, although it took a slightly week-over-week turn lower. Wheat also drifted slightly below the prior week’s pace, while soybeans shifted moderately higher.

Corn export inspections slid 5.3% lower from a week ago, to 60.2 million bushels. Still that was toward the higher end of trade estimates, which ranged between 31.5 million and 65.0 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2021/22 marketing year are still running nearly 20% behind last year’s pace, with 1.203 billion bushels.

China was the No. 1 destination for U.S. corn export inspections last week, with 18.1 million bushels. Japan, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and South Korea rounded out the top five.

Sorghum export inspections trended moderately below the prior week’s pace, with 11.2 million bushels. That grain is bound for China, Sudan and Mexico. Cumulative totals for the 2021/22 marketing year are slightly behind last year’s pace, with 175.2 million bushels.

Soybean export inspections firmed moderately higher week-over-week, reaching 27.1 million bushels. That was near the middle of analyst estimates, which ranged between 16.5 million and 36.7 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2021/22 marketing year are still well below last year’s pace, with 1.623 billion bushels.

Unsurprisingly, China was again the No. 1 destination for U.S. soybean export inspections, with 12.8 million bushels. Egypt, Mexico, Indonesia and Japan filled out the top five.

Wheat export inspections tilted slightly lower this past week, moving to 10.9 million bushels. That was on the lower end of trade guesses, which came in between 9.2 million and 20.2 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2021/22 marketing year remain moderately behind last year’s pace, with 631.8 million bushels.

Mexico led all destinations for U.S. wheat export inspections last week, with 3.5 million bushels. The Philippines, Taiwan, El Salvador and Nigeria rounded out the top five.

Click here to see more data from the latest USDA grain export inspection report.

About the Author(s)

Ben Potter

Senior editor, Farm Futures

Senior Editor Ben Potter brings two decades of professional agricultural communications and journalism experience to Farm Futures. He began working in the industry in the highly specific world of southern row crop production. Since that time, he has expanded his knowledge to cover a broad range of topics relevant to agriculture, including agronomy, machinery, technology, business, marketing, politics and weather. He has won several writing awards from the American Agricultural Editors Association, most recently on two features about drones and farmers who operate distilleries as a side business. Ben is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

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