USDA Reports Active Shipments, But Light Export Sales in Latest Week

OMAHA (DTN) — USDA’s Weekly Export Sales and Shipments report released Thursday listed net sales of 37.7 million bushels (mb) of corn, 7.1 mb of soybeans, and 10.5 mb of wheat. Corn and wheat posted sales for delivery in both the 2023-24 and 2024-25 crop years. Soy sales were only made for old crop delivery.

For the week ended March 28, 2024, USDA reported an increase of 37.3 mb (948,000 mt) of corn export sales in 2023-24 and an increase of 0.4 mb (11,400 mt) for 2024-25. Last week’s export shipments of 64.6 mb were well above the 45.1 mb needed each week to achieve USDA’s export estimate of 2.100 bb in 2023-24. Corn sales commitments now total 1.726 billion bushels (bb) in 2023-24 and are up 18% from a year ago. That is below USDA’s estimated pace at a time when USDA’s estimate of U.S. ending corn stocks is the highest in five years.   

For the week ended March 28, USDA reported an increase of 7.1 mb (194,200 mt) of soybean export sales in 2023-24. Last week’s export shipments of 20.2 mb were above the 14.9 mb needed each week to achieve USDA’s export estimate of 1.720 bb in 2023-24. Soybean sales commitments now total 1.490 bb in 2023-24 and are down 19% from a year ago. That is below USDA’s estimated pace at a time when USDA’s estimate of U.S. ending soybean stocks is the highest in four years.   

For the week ended March 28, USDA reported an increase of 0.6 mb (16,100 mt) of wheat export sales for 2023-24 and an increase of 9.6 mb (262,000 mt) for 2024-25. Last week’s export shipments of 19.0 mb were above the 18.6 mb needed each week to achieve USDA’s export estimate of 710 mb in 2023-24. Wheat export shipments now total 534 mb in 2023-24 and are down 6% from a year ago. That is in line with USDA’s estimated pace at a time when USDA’s estimate of U.S. ending wheat stocks is the second lowest in 10 years.