By Kirk Maltais
U.S. grain exports have performed exceptionally well, surpassing analyst forecasts, with wheat sales leading the way.
In the Department of Agriculture's weekly export sales report released on Friday, sales for the week ending January 11th showed significant improvement compared to the previous week. Wheat sales exceeded the expectations of analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal, totaling 707,600 metric tons for the 2023/24 marketing year, a substantial increase from the 128,100 tons recorded the previous week.
Analysts had projected sales to range between 150,000 tons and 500,000 tons. The leading buyers for the week were the Philippines, unknown destinations, South Korea, and Taiwan.
Corn sales across the 2023/24 and 2024/25 marketing years reached a total of 1.27 million tons, while soybean sales amounted to 783,000 tons. Both of these figures exceeded analyst forecasts. Mexico emerged as the primary buyer for corn, while China led in soybean purchases.
In pre-market trading, CBOT grain futures have seen an uptick, with most-active corn up 0.6%, soybeans up 0.9%, and wheat up 0.9%.
To access additional data related to U.S. export sales, search for "U.S. Export Sales: Weekly Sales Totals" in Dow Jones NewsPlus.
