The latest set of grain export inspection data from USDA, out Monday morning and covering the week through February 23, showed a pretty mixed bag of numbers for traders to consider. Wheat landed on the bullish side of the ledger, moving moderately higher week-over-week and exceeding the entire range of trade guesses. Corn volume eased lower from a week ago but stayed near the middle of analyst estimates. Soybeans tumbled significantly lower week-over-week, meantime.

Corn export inspections faded 8.2% lower week-over-week to 22.5 million bushels. That was near the middle of analyst estimates, which ranged between 14.8 million and 29.5 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2022/23 marketing year are still running significantly behind last year’s pace, with 563.3 million bushels.

Mexico was the No. 1 destination for U.S. corn export inspections last week, with 12.6 million bushels. Colombia, Japan, Taiwan and El Salvador rounded out the top five.

Sorghum export inspections moved moderately higher week-over-week to 4.2 million bushels. The vast majority of that grain is bound for China, with Mexico taking the fractional remainder. Cumulative totals for the 2022/23 marketing year are still well below last year’s pace so far, with 26.6 million bushels.

Soybean export inspections were disappointing after coming in at less than half of the prior week’s tally, with 25.4 million bushels. It was also below the entire set of trade guesses, which ranged between 31.2 million and 62.5 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2022/23 marketing year are still slightly above last year’s pace, with 1.546 billion bushels.

China was again the No. 1 destination for U.S. soybean exports, with 13.6 million bushels. Mexico, Germany, Algeria and Colombia filled out the top five.

Wheat export inspections were solid, climbing 58% higher week-over-week to reach 21.7 million bushels. It was also above the entire range of trade guesses, which came in between 9.2 million and 18.4 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2022/23 marketing year are slightly below last year’s pace so far, with 560.0 million bushels.

Mexico was the No. 1 destination for U.S. wheat export inspections last week, with 2.8 million bushels. Japan, South Korea, Indonesia 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 February 23.