Tridge summary
China made several appearances in the weekly export sales report, even if purchases under Phase One of the trade agreement haven’t met expectations. The USDA says China was the biggest buyer of old crop U.S. soybeans and sorghum during the week ending May 28th, was the second biggest purchaser of old crop wheat and pork, and China and Hong Kong also bought U.S. beef. Overall, the week numbers look mixed, with above average sales for soybean meal, sorghum, and beef, but below average numbers for most other major commodities. The USDA’s next set of supply and demand estimates is out June 11th. Physical shipments of corn were more than what’s needed weekly to meet USDA projections for the current marketing year, while wheat has already topped the mark, with just a few reporting days left in 2019/20 for that commodity. The 2020/21 marketing year for wheat officially started June 1st, while 2019/20 runs through the end of July for cotton and rice, the end of August for beans, corn, and sorghum, and the end of September for soybean products. Wheat came out at 179,500 tons (6.6 million bushels), down 14% from both the week ending May 21st and the four-week average. Ecuador purchased 194,700 tons and China bought 74,000 tons, while unknown destinations canceled on 105,000 tons. With just a handful of reporting days left in 2019/20, wheat sales are 990.1 million bushels, compared to 949.5 million late in 2018/19. Sales of 437,300 tons (16.1 million bushels) for 2020/21 delivery were mainly to the Philippines (110,000 tons) and Nigeria (83,100 tons), with a cancellation by unknown destinations (61,600 tons).