US export sales fall short of expectations for corn, wheat and soy

US export sales for the period December 22-28 have fallen well short of analysts’ expectations across corn, wheat and soybeans, data released Friday by the USDA has shown.

Corn was perhaps the biggest underperformer, with analysts expecting between 600,000 mt and 1 million mt, as net sales for the current marketing year were revealed at 101,200 mt.

That represents a marketing year low, a 92% fall on the previous week’s data and a 91% departure from the 4-week average.

Exports held up, however, with 657,600 mt moving, representing a 26% increase on the previous week.

Mexico accounted for just under a third of that volume – 185,900 mt – with Japan and South Korea accounting for a further 148,600 mt and 131,000 mt respectively.

Wheat net sales of 131,000 mt also trailed in well below expectations and registered a marketing year low, with a fall of 72% on the previous week.

Analysts had been looking for between 250,000 and 500,000 mt of net sales, while exports themselves also saw a decline – the 228,100 mt a fall of 56% on the previous week.

Soybeans showed some respectability versus analysts’ views, but still came in just shy of the 600,000-1 million mt range.

The net sales were 554,000 mt to complete a hattrick of marketing year lows across corn, wheat and soybeans, representing a 43% fall on the previous week.

Exports topped 1.1 million mt but fell 19% on the week before and 26% on the four-week average, with China taking 679,700 mt.