Catch-Up Corn, Wheat Export Commitments Continue Higher Than Last Year; Soybeans Lower

OMAHA (DTN) — USDA’s catch-up Weekly Export Sales and Shipments report for the week ended Dec. 18 listed net-corn sales of 87.5 million bushels (mb), both old and new crop delivery. Soybean net sales totaled 38.60 mb, minus a small cancellation for 2026-27. Wheat sales totaled 7.1 mb, both old and new crop delivery.

For the week ended Dec. 18, 2025, USDA reported an increase of 86.7 mb (2,202,300 mt) of corn export sales in 2025-26 and an increase of 0.8 mb (21,400 mt) for 2026-27. The week’s export shipments of 69.2 mb were above the 61.4 mb needed each week to achieve USDA’s export estimate of 3.200 billion bushels (bb) in 2025-26. As of Dec. 18, corn export commitments totaled 1.960 bb in 2025-26 and were up 31% 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 40% larger than the previous five-year average.  

For the week ended Dec. 18, USDA reported an increase of 38.8 mb (1,055,700 mt) of soybean export sales in 2025-26 and a decrease of 0.2 mb (4,800 mt) for 2026-27. The week’s export shipments of 33.8 mb were above the 30.5 mb needed each week to achieve USDA’s export estimate of 1.635 bb in 2025-26. As of Dec. 18, soybean export commitments now total 985.9 mb in 2025-26 and were down 32% from a year ago. That is behind USDA’s estimated pace at a time when USDA’s estimate of U.S. ending soybean stocks is less than 1% lower than the previous five-year average.     

For the week ended Dec. 18, USDA reported an increase of 5.4 mb (147,800 mt) of wheat export sales for 2025-26 and an increase of 1.7 mb (46,500 mt) for 2026-27. The week’s export shipments of 23.1 mb were above the 16.3 mb needed each week to achieve USDA’s export estimate of 900 mb in 2025-26. As of Dece. 18, wheat export commitments now total 731 mb in 2025-26 and were up 19% from a year ago. That is ahead of USDA’s estimated pace at a time when USDA’s estimate of U.S. ending wheat stocks is 24% larger than the previous five-year average.