Corn and wheat export sales slowed during the final and holiday-shortened week of 2015, while soybeans were up due to more sales to China, USDA's weekly export report said Thursday.

The corn and wheat sales missed trade forecasts, while the soybeans matched them.

Corn export sales of slightly less than 10 million bushels were down 64% from the previous week. Mexico, Colombia and Peru led buyers.

Wheat sales of 2.8 million bushels were a marketing-year low and down nearly 80% from the week before. Japan, China, and the Philippines led buyers.

Wheat sales of 2.8 million bushels were a marketing-year low and down nearly 80% from the week before. Japan, China, and the Philippines led buyers. (Photo by Ian Waldie/Getty Images)

Soybean sales were up 33% from the prior week at nearly 23.5 million, with China again the leading buyer, followed by the Netherlands and Spain. There was a small sale of nearly 3,700 bushels of 2016/2017 soybeans to Japan.

In daily reporting on Thursday, USDA said China bought 9.04 million bushels 2015/2016 soybeans. That sale will be included in the next weekly export report.

U.S. wheat futures dropped about 2 cents after the export numbers were released, while the corn and soybean markets barely moved.  Soybean futures in Chicago closed the overnight session 4-3/4 cents lower in January and 4-3/4 lower in March. In corn, March was down 2-3/4 cents and May down 2-1/2, while March soft red winter wheat was down 4-3/4 cents, March hard red winter was down 4-3/4 and March spring wheat was down 1-3/4.

Soymeal export sales of 46,500 metric tons were a marketing-year low, down 41% from a week ago and missed trade forecasts. Colombia, the Philippines and the Dominican Republic were the leading buyers.

Sorghum sales of 6.85 million bushels were up 29% from the previous week with China taking the most, followed by unknown destinations and Mexico.