By Paulo Trevisani

Old crop export sales of U.S. corn and soybeans last week were weaker than expected, while orders for the next marketing year increased, official data show.

In the USDA's latest weekly export report released Thursday, corn had export reductions of 115,200 metric tons for the 2020-21 marketing year ending August 31, with cancellations of 220,600 tons surpassing new sales of 105,400 tons. The USDA said it was a marketing-year low and "down noticeably from the prior 4-week average."

The result deepens the previous week's net reductions of 88,500 metric tons.

Corn sales for 2021-22, though, totaled 529,300 tons, well above the 47,700 tons in the week ended June 15.

China was the main buyer of U.S. corn, importing 698,700 tons.

Grains traders had forecast corn to record anywhere between a net reduction of 100,000 tons and net sales of 300,000 tons.

Net sales of soybeans last week were also in negative territory by 79,300 tons for the 2020-21 marketing year, which also ends on August 31. The result includes 157,900 tons in cancellations and 78,600 tons in new orders, snapping a long sequence of positive results and comparing to net sales of 62,000 tons in the prior week.

For 2021-22, the USDA reported net sales of 312,800 tons, up from 176,300 reported last week.

Mexico was the primary destination of American soybeans, ordering 106,700 tons.

Traders surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had forecast soybean net exports to be anywhere between zero and 400,000 tons.

In premarket trading on the CBOT Thursday, most-active corn futures rose 0.3% to $5.51 per bushel. Soybeans gained 0.7% to $13.71 per bushel.

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

Write to Paulo Trevisani at paulo.trevisani@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 29, 2021 09:42 ET (13:42 GMT)

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