US DATA: Corn inspections for export down 25% on week, up 86% on year

Houston — US corn inspected for exports in the week ended March 4 totaled 1.544 million mt, down 25% from the prior week, but up 86% from the year-ago week, the US Department of Agriculture said March 8.

Since the 2020-21 marketing year started on Sept. 1, the volume of US corn inspected for exports has totaled 27.624 million mt, 84% above the same period in the previous marketing year, the USDA said in its weekly Federal Grain Inspection Service report.

The total volume of US corn inspected for exports in the current marketing year has reached 42% of the USDA's latest projection of US corn export sales at 66.043 million mt.

US export shipments were above the average weekly pace needed to reach the USDA estimate of exports in the 2020-21 marketing year, market participants said.

Outstanding export sales of US corn -- product sold, but not yet shipped -- for the current marketing year totaled 32.954 million mt, 169% above the year-ago level, the USDA said on its latest weekly export sales report March 4. Of the total outstanding sales, 35%, 11.667 million mt were for China destinations, beside 5.8456 million mt for unknown destinations, usually associated with China destinations.

The top destination of the US corn inspected for exports was China with a total of 348,443 mt -- 277,612 mt for departure from the US Gulf Coast and 70,831 mt leaving from the Pacific Northwest region.

The second top destination was Japan with a total of 309,000 mt -- 131,911 mt for departure from the US Gulf Coast and 177,089 mt leaving from the Pacific Northwest region.

The volume of US corn inspected for departure from the US Gulf Coast totaled 975,633 mt, all of yellow corn. The top destinations were China with 277,612 mt; Japan with 131,911 mt; Peru with 99,410 mt; and Egypt with 84,578 mt.

The amount of yellow corn inspected for departure from the US Pacific Coast totaled 376,499 mt, with 376,059 mt of yellow corn and 440 mt of white corn. The top destinations for yellow corn were Japan with 177,089 mt, South Korea with 127,894 mt, and China with 70,831 mt. For white corn, South Korea was the destination for 416 mt and the UK for 24 mt.

Inspections of corn leaving the Interior region totaled 192,328 mt, with 187,338 mt of yellow corn and 4,990 mt of white corn. The main destinations were Mexico with 166,458 mt of yellow corn and 4,990 mt of white corn and Taiwan with 18,653 mt of yellow corn.

The largest share of US grain exports inspected last week was corn at 55%. Soybeans were second at 21% followed by wheat at 17%.

US corn inspected for exports is corn that has been sold and inspected during loading at export locations for shipment overseas. Traders consider the pace needed to meet the USDA projection an indicator of demand.

Corn is the primary feedstock for ethanol production in the US and the main competitor for dried distiller grains in the feed ration.

US corn inspected for export (mt):

Source: USDA