By Kirk Maltais


U.S. soybean export sales hit a marketing year low for the week ended Feb. 15, driven by a large reduction in previously announced sales.

The Department of Agriculture reported that soybean sales totaled 55,900 metric tons for 2023/24. That's a marketing year low, driven largely by a reduction of 591,700 tons previously sold to unknown destinations. It's also below the forecast of analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal, who projected sales between 300,000 tons and 800,000 tons.

Sales of wheat also missed analyst forecasts, totaling 233,500 tons for the week, below projections of 250,000 tons to 600,000 tons. Corn sales fell on the low end of projections, totaling 998,100 tons across the 2023/24 and 2024/25 marketing years.

The results of Friday morning's report are expected to put pressure on CBOT grains throughout the day. "Poor exports across the board with corn at the bottom end of the range and beans/wheat below the bottom end of the range of guesses," said Doug Bergman of RCM Alternatives in a note.

Early in trading, most-active soybeans are down 0.3%, while corn is up 0.4% and wheat is up 0.6%.


To see related data, search "U.S. Export Sales: Weekly Sales Totals" in Dow Jones NewsPlus.


Write to Kirk Maltais at kirk.maltais@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-23-24 0957ET