By Kirk Maltais
Export inspections of U.S. corn continue to run ahead of their pace at this time last year, according to the latest weekly data from the Agriculture Department.
In its latest weekly report, the USDA said that export inspections of U.S. corn totaled 1.54 million metric tons for the week ended Jan. 16. That's up from 1.44 million tons from last week, and up about 49% from the 746,933 tons inspected at this time last year.
This week's accelerated pace now makes total inspections for the 2024/25 marketing year over 30% higher than this time last year, the USDA says. Total corn inspections are 19.2 million tons through Monday's report.
Soybean inspections didn't have the same momentum, with inspections for the week ended Jan. 16 at 973,145 tons. That's down from 1.36 million tons for the prior week, and the 1.18 million tons at this time last year. Wheat inspections also fell back, totaling 261,786 tons, down from 299,191 tons last week and 315,186 tons at this time last year.
Japan was the top destination for U.S. corn exports, totaling more than 400,000 tons for the week. Korea was the top destination for U.S. wheat, and China remained the leading importer of U.S. soybeans.
CBOT grain futures are higher in a volatile session on the first day of trading after President Donald Trump's inauguration, with most-active corn up 0.6%, soybeans up 1.9%, and wheat 3.1% higher.
To see related data, search "USDA Grain Inspections for Export in Metric Tons" in Dow Jones NewsPlus.
Write to Kirk Maltais at kirk.maltais@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-21-25 1206ET