Export Sales for U.S. Wheat Sag

By Kirk Maltais

Export sales for U.S. wheat fell back in this week's report from the USDA, amid historically high prices for the grain.

The USDA reported Thursday that across both the 2021/22 and 2022/23 marketing years, wheat sales totaled 176,300 metric tons for the week ended March 24. That's well below last week's figure of 523,000 tons. It also falls below the estimates of grain traders surveyed by The Wall Street Journal this week, who had expected sales to total between 300,000 tons to 800,000 tons.

The drop off in sales comes amid historically high prices for U.S. wheat - which hit an intraday high of roughly $11.70 per bushel during the week reported by the USDA. High wheat prices stem from the conflict in Ukraine, which has disrupted exports of Black Sea wheat.

Corn and soybean sales fell within analyst expectations for the week. Corn sales totaled 923,700 tons across both marketing years, while soybean sales totaled 1.36 million tons.

Grain futures on the CBOT are higher in pre-market trading Thursday, with corn futures up 0.3%, soybeans up 0.2%, and wheat up 0.7%.

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

Write to Kirk Maltais at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-31-22 0911ET