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More U.S. soybeans off to China

More U.S. soybeans are headed to China. The USDA says 416,408 tons of beans left U.S. ports during the week ending January 17th, on the way to China ahead of Cabinet-level trade talks scheduled to start next week. AgriVisor senior market analyst Dale Durchholz tells Brownfield export information is hard to come by because of the partial government shutdown and aside from private reports, the weekly inspections numbers are one of the few available ways to track business, “As long as we’re continuing to push stuff out the door at a respectable pace, it implies that those buyers out there are buying. It is a bit of a gauge on the buying activity, even without having the official sales data in hand.”

Soybean export inspections continue to trail last marketing year’s pace because of the trade tensions with China and increased competition from Brazil, while corn inspections are moving out faster than a year ago. The 2018/19 marketing year runs through May for wheat and August for beans, corn, and sorghum.

Wheat came out at 516,643 tons, down 30,140 from the week ending January 10th, but up 90,023 from the week ending January 18th, 2018. The primary destinations were Mexico and Egypt. For the 2018/19 marketing year to date, wheat inspections are 14,003,664 tons, compared to 15,632,923 in 2017/18.

Corn was reported at 1,108,119 tons, 94,149 higher than the previous week and 384,948 more than this time last year. The main destinations were Japan and Mexico. At this point in the marketing year, corn inspections are 20,577,272 tons, compared to 12,785,943 a year ago.

Soybeans were pegged at 1,110,713 tons, 22,622 above the week before, but 311,312 below a year ago. The primary destinations are the European Union and China. So far, this marketing year, soybean inspections are 19,508,020 tons, compared to 32,275,756 last year.

Sorghum totaled 65,821 tons, an increase of 57,559 on the week, but a decrease of 103,448 on the year. Spain and Djibouti are the main destinations for sorghum. 2018/19 sorghum inspections are 561,855 tons, compared to 1,937,171 in 2017/18.