Corn and soybean inspections improve, but still held back by Gulf port damage

Wheat exports held strong and were near the upper end of expectation.

Soybean ship
Soybean ship

Inspections of both corn and soybeans improved notably the week ending Sept. 16 as some export terminals in the Gulf came back online, but shipments of both commodities fell well short of year-ago tallies, reminding that many facilities are still offline. Meanwhile, wheat exports held strong and were near the upper end of expectation. More wheat ships out of the Pacific Northwest, so it has seen far less trade impact than corn and soybeans.

USDA’s Weekly Grain Export Inspections

Week Ended Sept. 16, 2021

Corn

Actual (MT)

403,104

Expectations (MT)

150,000-450,000

Comments

Inspections climbed 243,375 MT from last week’s tally, which was revised more than 21,000 MT higher. Early in the 2021-22 marketing year, inspections are running 69.8% behind year-ago which compares to 85.3% behind year-ago last week. USDA’s 2021-22 export forecast of 2.475 billion bu. is 9.8% below 2020-21.

Wheat

Actual (MT)

563,390

Expectations (MT)

350,000-600,000

Comments

Export inspections edged roughly 4,000 MT lower from last week’s tally, which was revised nearly 19,500 MT higher. So far this marketing year, shipments are running 11.0% behind year-ago vs. 13.4% behind year-ago last week. USDA projects exports in 2021-22 at 875 million bu., 11.8% below 2020-21.

Soybeans

Actual (MT)

275,169

Expectations (MT)

100,000-400,000

Comments

Export inspections climbed 81,740 MT from last week’s tally that was revised more than 88,000 MT higher. Early in the 2021-22 marketing year, inspections are running 86.5% behind year-ago, which compares to 94.1% behind year-ago the week prior. USDA’s 2021-22 export forecast of 2.090 billion bu. is 7.5% below 2020-21.