Weekly Export Sales Mixed Bag for U.S. Commodities

WASHINGTON, DC – Wheat sales last week totaled more than 500-thousand metric tons primarily to Guatemala, Mexico, and Sri Lanka. Exports were nearly 487-thousand metric tons and shipped to the Philippines, Mexico, and Yemen. The past week was disappointing for corn sales, falling 46 percent from the previous week, with South Korea and Guatemala the major buyers. Exports, though nearly 878-thousand metric tons, fell 29 percent week-over-week while the majority went to Mexico, Japan, and South Korea. Sorghum sales took a huge hit, even though China purchase over 100-thousand metric tons. For the week, sorghum saw more cancellations than sales. Exports were much better with China and New Zealand the only two destinations in a week that saw shipments shrink 6 percent. It was also a challenging week for soybeans, as sales fell 46 percent from the previous week – though China was responsible for more than half of the olf crop sales. On the new crop sales, Chinese purchases were more than 1-million metric tons of a total of 1.3-million for the week. Exports improved with Egypt, Mexico, and China helping to boost the deliveries by 32 percent over the previous week. Old-crop cotton sales were down more than 75 percent from the previous week and China was responsible for most of the 98-thousand bales sold. New crop sales hit almost 150-thousand bales. For export though, China, Vietnam, and Turkey were responsible for the majority of the 348-thousand bales shipped last week. For the livestock sector, beef sales were down 1 percent and exports slipped 23 percent from the previous week. Pork sales, on the other hand, increased noticeably and exports climbed 6 percent week-over-week.
(SOURCE: Foreign Agriculture Service)