December 3, 2010

US soy exports hit one-month peak on China demand

US soy export sales rose nearly 50% last week to a one-month high as China, the world's top importer of the oilseed, booked its largest weekly purchases in almost four months, according to USDA data released on Thursday (Dec 2).

Corn export sales in the week ended November 25 slipped 8% from the previous week's one-and-a-half month high in sales, while sales of all varieties of US wheat fell about 10% but still exceeded trade expectations.

USDA said soy sales totaled 1.4 million tonnes last week, including 1.34 million for shipment in the September 2010-August 2011 marketing year, which was about double the previous week's 2010-11 net sales.

Top buyers included China, which purchased a net 1.48 million tonnes, and Mexico, which bought 65,800 tonnes. There were also net reductions in sales to Japan of 172,400 tonnes and to unknown destinations of 174,000 tonnes, the USDA said.

Corn sales last week totaled 758,100 tonnes, all for 2010-11 marketing year shipment, with regular customers South Korea, Mexico, and Japan the top buyers in the week.

The USDA said all wheat sales totaled 663,300 tonnes for shipment in the June 2010-May 2011 marketing year and 40,900 tonnes for 2011-12, above trade expectations for 550,000-650,000 tonnes in the two marketing years combined.