News

Soybean export inspections up on week, year

Nearly three quarters of a million tons of soybeans left U.S. ports for China last week. The USDA’s weekly export inspections update for the week ending February 21st says most of that came out of the Pacific Northwest, with a lesser amount shipping out of the Mississippi River. The pace of soybean export inspections has improved as trade talks between the U.S. and China move forward, but remains much slower than last marketing year because of the tensions with China and increased competition from Brazil.

The current marketing year runs through the end of May for wheat and the end of August for beans, corn, and sorghum.

Wheat came out at 693,964 tons, up 330,441 from the week ending February 14th and 380,102 higher than the week ending February 22nd, 2018. The top destinations were the Philippines and Yemen. With just over a quarter left in the 2018/19 marketing year, wheat inspections are 16,447,718 tons, compared to 17,882,069 in 2017/18.

Corn was reported at 751,278 tons, down 190,533 from the previous week and 565,090 lower than this time last year. Mexico and Japan were the leading destinations for corn. Nearly halfway through the marketing year, corn inspections are 24,921,716 tons, compared to 17,996,877 a year ago.

Soybeans were pegged at 1,307,350 tons, an increase of 224,150 from the week before and 539,658 more than a year ago. Along with China, a significant amount of U.S. soybeans left ports for the Netherlands. So far, this marketing year, soybean inspections are 25,036,623 tons, compared to 37,781,725 last year.

Sorghum inspections totaled 27,271 tons, a decrease of 90,984 on the week and 33,195 on the year. Japan and Mexico were the listed destinations. 2018/19 sorghum inspections are 826,288 tons, compared to 2,749,022 in 2017/18.