USDA export sales surge as corn, wheat and soy prices tempt buyers

Export sales of corn, wheat and soy surged in the week ending December 14, with corn and wheat sailing past analyst’s best expectations while soybean exports came in at the upper end of the estimate range.

For corn, where analysts had expected between 800,000 and 1.1 million mt, the 1.5 million mt saw a barnstorming performance, adding 2 cents to the front three CBOT futures contracts.

The volume was an 80% increase on the previous week and 82% above the four-week average, with Mexico (381,500 mt), Colombia (167,100 mt), and Japan (151,300 mt) taking substantial volume.

Unknown destinations accounted for 296,600 mt, with a substantial chunk of that likely to be destined ultimately for Asia, where strong export demand has seen physical differentials in the Pacific Northwest surge.

Exports also rose by a more modest 2% on the previous week, to 701,900 mt with Mexico, Japan, Saudi Arabia and South Korea taking volume.

Wheat also surpassed expectations as 796,300 mt of export sales were registered, close to 200,000 mt above the best market guess and 35% higher than the previous week.

Japan too was among the buyers, clocking up 132,100 mt with Algeria also securing 120,000 mt and Indonesia securing 115,900 mt. Some 193,700 mt was also registered to unknown destinations.

Actual exports were 576,000 mt, 92% higher than the previous week and with Indonesia top of the list of destinations, taking 115,900 mt.

For soybeans, the 1.74 million mt came in just shy of market expectations, which had put a ceiling of 1.8 million mt, but still represented a 20% rise on the previous week.

China remained top of the buyers’ pile with 1.5 million mt export sales, while China also took 956,300 mt of the 1.5 million mt of soybean exports even as the furore around the country’s change in contamination thresholds unfurls.

It remains to be seen what impact the move to 1% foreign matter will have on export moves, but despite the export sales data being described as “supportive all round” by a source, soybean contract prices slumped 3.5 cents to $9.5050/bu on the front month contract.