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Corn Sales Remain Poor

Foreign buyers continue to resist higher corn prices, with new bookings and shipments remaining slow over the second week of the holidays.

Net new bookings for corn fell to 14.5 million bushels, just half the rate needed to reach USDA’s forecast for the marketing year, with shipments also sluggish at 24.2 million. Japan was the leading buyer, but most of its purchases were previously recorded as being from unknown destinations, muting their impact on the total for the week.

Total wheat sales of 17.1 million bushels beat both trade guesses and the weekly rate forecast by USDA, but shipments remain subdued at 14.7 million. Buyers from the Middle East dominated this week’s lineup, but the deals involved just one load or so, not enough to light the market on fire. Both sales and shipments lag the pace normally seen the time of year, despite tight global supplies of milling quality wheat, making sales in the second half of the marketing year crucial to meeting USDA’s target.

Soybean sales were decent at 20.3 million, though that was below optimistic trade guesses. Sales and shipments are at a record pace thanks to strong Chinese interest, which continued last week. Chinese purchases dominated the buying list, with the country’s total purchases larger than the net figure for the entire week due to switches and cancellations.

For the complete export report, click here.