Weekly corn export sales surpass industry expectations

A mixed exports sales report from the USDA on Friday saw corn sales in the week to January 18 beat analysts’ expectations, while wheat was in line with forecasts and soybeans again came in below.

Wheat

Net sales of wheat came in at the upper end of industry expectations at 427,200 mt, almost three times higher than last week’s figure and double the average seen over the past four weeks.

While the destination of the bulk of sales remained unknown, there were notable sales to Mexico, Japan, the Philippines, and Morocco. There was also a sale of 26,500 mt for the 2018/19 crop.

Actual exports for the week came in at 376,800 mt, 11% down on the previous week, but 4% up on the month’s average.

Major destinations included 109,500 mt to the Philippines, 69,900 mt to South Korea, 68,200 mt to Mexico, 51,500 mt to Iraq, and 44,400 mt to Taiwan.

Corn

Corn exports surpassed industry expectations for the second week in a row, with net sales of 1.45 million mt of corn down 22% from last week’s massive figure, but 59% above the average volume of the last four weeks.

Unknown destinations were again reported as the biggest single destination, while South Korea, Japan, Guatemala, Mexico, and Venezuela all accounted for significant volumes, while further evidence of rare exports to Vietnam surfaced in the data.

Actual exports of 599,000 mt were 3% lower than last week’s figure and 11% below the four-week average. Some 204,100 mt headed to Mexico, 91,600 mt to Colombia, 83,300 mt to Peru, and 44,900 mt to Costa Rica.

Soybeans

Soybean sales fell 50% week on week and were 24% below the four-week average, coming in almost 200,000 mt below trade estimates.

Some 616,300 mt of export sales were reported, with significant volumes were seen going to China, Egypt, Thailand, Mexico, and Indonesia.

Physical exports of 1.24 million mt were 6% higher week-on-week, with 517,600 mt heading to China, 138,300 mt to Pakistan, 72,100 mt to Indonesia, and 71,500 mt to Spain.