Corn, soy and wheat export sales outstrip average trade expectations

US net exports sales of corn, soy and wheat outstripped average trade expectations in this week's USDA report, all coming in at the top end of estimates.

Corn export sales totalled 1.77 million mt in the week ending February 1, according to figures released by the USDA Thursday, compared with estimates of between 1.3-1.9 million mt.

The figures were down 4% on the previous week, but a whopping 27% above the four week average, as South Korea (330,200 mt), Egypt (225,000 mt) and Spain (198,000 mt) were the three biggest destinations.

The USDA has unveiled a string of US private export sales since January 26, which has seen some 1.2 million mt booked out of US ports, although corn export sales remain 17% below last year's.

Elsewhere, net export sales of soybeans reached 743,200 mt for the 2017/2018 crop, more than double last week’s volume, up 11% on the four-week average and at the top end of the 400-800,000 mt trade estimates.

Mexico took the best part of 200,000 mt, which was reported last week, while 164,400 mt was sold to China and 154,900 mt to the Netherlands.

Those net export sales compare with around 30 cargoes, or around 1.8-2 million mt, that have been booked out of Brazil in the past 10 days, according to brokers, in a sign that the US continues to lose its market share.

That is reflected in the year-to-date sales, which are down 13% year-on-year.

In terms of wheat, 393,400 mt was sold for delivery in the current marketing year, up 36% from the previous week and 67% from the prior four-week average.

That compared with trade estimates of 200,000-500,000 mt. 

Mexico and South Korea were the two largest recipients of sales, taking 106,400 mt and 79,400 mt each.