Export sales for old crop wheat bounced back this week as 14.0 million bushels were reported for the week ending March 20th. This brings total wheat sales for old crop wheat to just over 1.99 billion bushels, with USDA projecting 1.225 billion bushels. There are 9 weeks left in the 2007/08 marketing year. Adding to this were new crop wheat sales of 6.7 million bushels, well above previous years sales to this date. Combining old and new crop sales, the 20.7 million bushels was the largest weekly sales of wheat since the first of the year. Pre-report estimates were in a range of 14.7 to 27.6 million bushels. As mentioned in previous weeks, shipments are still slipping from what are needed on a weekly basis to reach the USDA goal. This week's shipment of 19.5 million bushels falls short of what is needed by around 4 million bushels. Overall, this week's export pace will be viewed as bullish with a cautious eye remaining on shipments.
Corn export sales for the week were 24.9 million bushels. Pre-report estimates ranged from 23.6 to 35.4 million bushels. There were also new crop corn sales of 3.9 million bushels this week. New crop corn sales are running ahead of year ago and the three-year average pace at this time. Corn shipments were 50.7 million bushels this week, well above the 44 million needed on a weekly basis to stay abreast with USDA's goal of 2.45 billion bushels. Trade will view this report as neutral to bullish for corn.
Soybeans continue to outpace the weekly pace needed to reach the 1.025 billion bushels USDA has set as its bean export goal. For the week export sales were 13.6 million bushels for old crop soybeans as well as 6.0 million bushels of new crop soybeans. Looking at the old crop, we are now below 2.0 million bushels needed on a weekly basis to achieve the current USDA figure, with 23 weeks remaining in the 2007/08 marketing year. Pre-report estimates for soybean sales were 11.0 to 25.7 million bushels this week. Shipments also remain well above what is needed to reach the USDA goal. This week 23.4 million bushels of soybeans were shipped, more than double what is needed weekly. With continued problems securing soybeans out of Argentina, some business may come back to the United States contributing to strong US demand in the near term. Trade will view this report as bullish for soybeans.
|
|
|