Market News & Headlines >> Export Inspections Supportive for Corn, Soy
Weekly grain inspections totals from USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) have taken on more importance than normal in the grain trade with USDA daily and weekly export sales reporting still suspended as the partial federal government shutdown drags on.
Grain inspections data for the week ended Jan. 17, released by AMS on Monday morning appeared to be largely supportive for corn and soybean futures and neutral to bearish for wheat.
AMS pegged weekly corn export inspections at 43.6 million bushels, up from 39.9 million a week earlier and only 28.5 million a year earlier. Weekly inspections topped trade expectations that ran 35.5-43.3 million bushels according to a Reuters News Service survey. U.S. corn export inspections of 810.1 million bushels for the 2018/19 marketing year to date were nearly 61% above a year earlier.
Weekly soybean export inspections totaled 40.8 million bushes up from 40.0 million a week earlier, but down from 52.3 million a year earlier. Inspections were in line with trade expectations that ran 31.2-47.8 million bushels. U.S. soybean inspections of 716.8 million bushels for the 2018/19 marketing year to date were a hefty 39.6% below a year earlier amid the ongoing U.S.-China trade conflict.
However, AMS did report export inspections of 416,408 metric tons (15.3 million bushels) of U.S. soybeans for shipment to China, the largest such total since March of 2018, indicating exporters are beginning to ship recent Chinese purchases of U.S. soybean, which export trade sources believe totaled around 5 million metric tons (183.7 million bushels) according to various news reports.
AMS put weekly U.S. wheat export inspections at 19.0 million bushels, down from 20.1 million a week earlier, but up from 15.6 million a year earlier. Inspections were in line with trade expectations that ran 15.6-22.0 million bushels. Wheat export inspections s for the 2018/19 marketing year to date totaled 514.5 million bushels, 10.4% behind a year earlier.