U.S. Soybean Export Sales Miss Targets

Export sales of U.S. soybeans fell well below the forecasts of grain traders, with old-crop sales being reduced for the week amid cancellations of previously announced sales.

In its weekly report covering sales for the week ended June 23, the USDA said that old-crop sales of soybeans were reduced by 120,200 metric tons, driven largely by the cancellation of 288,400 tons of previously announced sales to unknown destinations. New crop sales for the week only slightly offset this reduction, leaving the net total at 7,400 tons.

Grain traders surveyed by The Wall Street Journal this week had forecast total sales of soybeans to land anywhere from 200,000 tons to 600,000 tons.

Corn sales also fell below the forecasts of traders, with sales across both marketing years totaling 208,100 tons, versus forecasts of 400,000 tons to 1 million tons. Meanwhile, wheat sales totaled 496,700 tons, which is on the high-end of trader expectations.

Grain futures on the CBOT are down in premarket trading Thursday, with corn futures down 1.3%, soybeans down 0.6% and wheat is down 0.5%.
Source: Dow Jones