Wheat Export Commitments Widen Gap With Last Year

OMAHA (DTN) — USDA’s Weekly Export Sales and Shipments report released Friday due to Thursday’s Christmas holiday listed net sales of 67.8 million bushels (mb) of corn; soybean net sales totaled 40.5 mb; wheat net sales commitments totaled 23.7 mb. All sales were for delivery in 2024-25 and 2025-26 combined.

For the week ended Dec. 19, 2024, USDA reported an increase of 67.4 mb (1,711,300 mt) of corn export sales in 2024-25 and an increase of 0.4 mb (10,000 mt) for 2025-26. Last week’s export shipments of 44.2 mb were below the 51.7 mb needed each week to achieve USDA’s export estimate of 2.475 billion bushels (bb) in 2024-25. Corn sales commitments now total 1.497 bb in 2024-25 and are up 29% from a year ago. That is ahead of USDA’s estimated pace at a time when USDA’s estimate of U.S. ending corn stocks is the second highest in five years.

For the week ended Dec. 19, USDA reported an increase of 35.9 mb (978,400 mt) of soybean export sales in 2024-25 and an increase of 4.6 mb (125,000 mt) for 2025-26. Last week’s export shipments of 57.8 mb were above the 24.7 mb needed each week to achieve USDA’s export estimate of 1.825 bb in 2024-25. Soybean sales commitments now total 1.458 bb in 2024-25 and are up 10% from a year ago. That is slightly ahead of USDA’s estimated pace at a time when USDA’s estimate of U.S. ending soybean stocks is the highest in five years.

For the week ended Dec. 19, USDA reported an increase of 22.5 mb (612,400 mt) of wheat export sales for 2024-25 and an increase of 0.5 mb (12,600 mt) for 2025-26. Last week’s export shipments of 13.8 mb were below the 18.0 mb needed each week to achieve USDA’s export estimate of 850 mb in 2024-25. Wheat sales commitments now total 616 mb in 2024-25 and are up 11% from a year ago. That is behind USDA’s estimated pace at a time when USDA’s estimate of U.S. ending wheat stocks is the highest in four years.