Export Sales: More lackluster results

Corn, soybeans and wheat all spill lower week-over-week.

By: Ben Potter

USDA’s new export report, covering the week through February 11, didn’t have a lot of bullish data to digest after it was released Friday morning. Old crop corn sales sagged 67% below the prior four-week average, with old crop soybean sales down 53% over the same period. Wheat was also 33% below last week’s tally and 18% below the prior four-week average.

Old crop corn sales faded 31% lower week-over-week to 39.2 million bushels. With another 7.2 million bushels of new crop sales, that created a total tally of 46.5 million bushels. Analysts were generally expecting to see similar results, with trade guesses ranging between 31.5 million and 53.1 million bushels. Mexico was the top buyer, with 12.5 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2020/21 marketing year remain far ahead of last year’s pace, with 904.3 million bushels.

Corn export shipments shifted 14% higher than the prior four-week average, with 54.6 million bushels. Mexico was the No. 1 destination, with 9.7 million bushels. Japan, South Korea, Colombia and Peru rounded out the top five.

Sorghum export sales tumbled to trace amounts last week, falling noticeably below the prior four-week average. Still, cumulative totals for the 2020/21 marketing year have nearly tripled last year’s pace, with 111.7 million bushels.

Soybean exports saw old crop sales totaling 16.8 million bushels last week, plus another 6.2 million bushels in new crop sales for a total of 23.0 million bushels. That was on the lower end of trade guesses that ranged between 12.9 million and 44.1 million bushels. With China celebrating its Lunar New Year holiday last week, Indonesia emerged as the top buyer, with 3.4 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2020/21 marketing year are still nearly doubling last year’s pace, with 1.862 billion bushels.

Soybean export shipments eroded 54% below the prior four-week average to 36.8 million bushels. China was the No. 1 destination, with 14.7 million bushels. Mexico, Indonesia, the Netherlands and Italy filled out the top five.

Wheat exports found 14.7 million bushels in old crop sales and another 7.9 million bushels in new crop sales for a total tally of 22.6 million bushels. That was on the high end of trade estimates, which ranged between 9.2 million and 25.7 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2020/21 marketing year are still slightly behind last year’s pace, with 618.3 million bushels.

Wheat export shipments fell 14% lower week-over-week and 11% below the prior four-week average, to 14.0 million bushels. Japan (4.7 million) and Mexico (3.9 million) were the top two destinations. China, South Korea and Venezuela rounded out the top five.

Source/Credit: https://www.farmprogress.com/exports/export-sales-more-lackluster-results