Corn and wheat posted more lackluster numbers in the latest weekly export inspections data, for the week ending Oct. 12. Soybeans fared much better – just don’t compare this week’s volume to results from 2016/17.

Corn ended the week with 12.7 million bushels in export inspections, which was well under trade expectations (23 to 31 million bushels), not to mention lower than last week (22.9 million bushels) and this time a year ago (34.6 million bushels). For the 2017/18 marketing year, which began Sept. 1, corn export inspection volume has stayed consistently below last year’s totals, with only 154 million bushels in year-to-date volume. Last year’s year-to-date volume was 308 million bushels.

Mexico was the top destination for the week, capturing nearly half of the total volume with 6.33 million bushels. Other top destinations included Colombia (3.15 million bushels), Peru (1.54 million bushels) and Japan (1.13 million bushels). 

Soybean export inspections beat trade estimates for the week, with 65.1 million bushels. Trade estimates expected somewhat lower results, between 40 and 51 million bushels. However, volume was well below totals from a year ago (94.3 million bushels), and year-to-date totals also slipped below the pace of 2016/17, with 266 million bushels total, vs. 288 million bushels a year ago.

As is the case most weeks, China is the dominant top destinations for soybean export inspections, with 43.1 million bushels. Other top destinations included Pakistan (5.0 million bushels), Turkey (2.4 million bushels), Canada (2.1 million bushels), Bangladesh (2.1 million bushels) and Spain (2.0 million bushels).

Wheat export inspections for the week hit the low end of trade estimates, with 11.9 million bushels. That’s slightly down from the week prior, with 12.0 million bushels. For the 2017/18 marketing year so far, which began June 1, wheat export inspections have totaled 390 million bushels, down slightly from 2016/17’s year-to-date volume of 406 million bushels.

Indonesia was the No. 1 destination for wheat last week, with 2.7 million bushels. Other top destinations included Colombia (1.7 million bushels), Israel (1.7 million bushels), Mexico (1.4 million bushels), Italy (1.3 million bushels) and Japan (1.3 million bushels).

Some other crops also tallied a small volume of export inspections for the week, including flaxseed (3,856 bushels), oats (6,484 bushels) and sorghum (60,390 bushels).