USDA’s latest set of grain export sales data, out Thursday morning and covering the week through June 20, held one pleasant surprise coupled with a few disappointments. Of particular note, wheat volume jumped above the entire set of analyst estimates. In contrast, corn and soybean volumes stayed on the lower end of trade guesses.

Corn exports reached 26.8 million bushels in combined old and new crop sales last week. Old crop sales faded 39% below the prior four-week average. Total sales were toward the lower end of analyst estimates, which ranged between 15.7 million and 51.2 million bushels. Cumulative sales for the 2023/24 marketing year remain moderately ahead of last year’s pace after reaching 1.704 billion bushels.

Corn export shipments eased 11% below the prior four-week average, with 46.3 million bushels. Mexico, Japan, Colombia, South Korea and China were the top five destinations.

Sorghum export sales continued their current slump after only reaching 126,000 bushels. Increases for China were mostly offset by offsets to Mexico. Cumulative sales for the 2023/24 marketing year are still sizably above last year’s pace after reaching 198.8 million bushels.

Soybean export sales were relatively disappointing after only reaching 14.1 million bushels last week. Old crop sales spilled 49% lower week-over-week. Total sales were toward the lower end of analyst estimates, which ranged between 11.0 million and 29.4 million bushels. Cumulative sales for the 2023/24 marketing year are still tracking moderately below last year’s pace after reaching 1.502 billion bushels.

Soybean export shipments were 43% above the prior four-week average, with 14.4 million bushels. Egypt, Mexico, the Netherlands, Germany and Japan were the top five destinations.

Wheat export sales were better than expected after jumping to 24.5 million bushels. That was better than the entire set of trade guesses, which ranged between 7.3 million and 22.0 million bushels. Cumulative sales for the 2023/24 marketing year are a bit ahead of last year’s pace after reaching 35.2 million bushels since June 1.

Wheat export shipments reached 11.9 million bushels last week. Mexico, Japan, Brazil, Chile and Honduras were the top five destinations.

Click here for more highlights from the latest UDSA export sales report.