USA: weekly grain movement – a lackluster round of results

Corn, soybeans and wheat all notch weekly declines.

Traders had to wait an extra day for USDA to release its weekly grain export inspections report due to the Presidents’ Day holiday on Monday. But the latest data, out Tuesday morning, didn’t feel much worth the wait. Corn found its way to the upper end of trade estimates but still faced a moderate week-over-week decline. Wheat also trended lower from the prior week. Soybeans were the most disappointing, dropping to less than half of the prior week’s volume and falling below the entire range of analyst estimates.

Corn export inspections fell 17% week-over-week to 52.1 million bushels for the week ending February 11. That was still on the higher end of analyst estimates, which ranged between 39.4 million and 55.1 million bushels. And cumulative totals for the 2020/21 marketing year are still well ahead of last year’s pace, reaching 1.094 billion bushels.

Japan was the No. 1 destination for U.S. corn export inspections last week, with 9.3 million bushels, followed closely by Mexico (8.7 million) and South Korea (7.2 million). Peru and Colombia rounded out the top five.

Sorghum export inspections spilled to less than half of the prior week’s volume, falling to 2.8 million bushels, with all of that grain heading to China. Cumulative totals for the 2020/21 marketing year are still nearly tripling last year’s pace, meantime, with 131.4 million bushels.

Soybean export inspections were lackluster, eroding 57% lower week-over-week to 29.7 million bushels. That was also lower than the entire range of trade guesses that were between 34.9 million and 66.1 million bushels. In contrast, cumulative totals for the 2020/21 marketing year are still 77% above last year’s pace, with 1.840 billion bushels through February 11.

China returned as the No. 1 destination for U.S. soybean export inspections last week, with 14.9 million bushels. Mexico, Indonesia, the Netherlands and Taiwan filled out the top five.

Wheat export inspections eased 13% lower week-over-week to 14.4 million bushels and landing on the lower end of trade estimates, which ranged between 11.0 million and 22.0 million bushels. Cumulative totals for the 2020/21 marketing year are still slightly behind last year’s pace, with 639.6 million bushels.

Japan was by far the No. 1 destination for U.S. wheat export inspections last week, taking another 4.7 million bushels. Mexico, Malaysia, Yemen and South Korea rounded out the top five.

FramProgress

Tags: soybeans, wheat, farm futures market company, reports, corn