U.S. agricultural exports posted varied performance across major commodities for the week ending August 28, with current marketing year sales declining while future bookings showed strength, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's weekly export sales report released Friday.
Wheat net sales of 313,000 metric tons for the 2025/2026 marketing year fell 46 percent from the previous week and 51 percent below the prior four-week average. Major buyers included Nigeria (117,100 metric tons), Mexico (90,400 metric tons), and the Philippines (65,800 metric tons).
Corn reported net sales reductions of 280,900 metric tons for the 2024/2025 marketing year, marking a marketing-year low. Significant cancellations came from unknown destinations (446,100 metric tons), Spain (65,000 metric tons), and Ireland (44,000 metric tons).
However, corn bookings for the 2025/2026 marketing year reached 2,117,000 metric tons, with Mexico (511,800 metric tons), Colombia (478,700 metric tons), and unknown destinations (320,500 metric tons) leading purchases.
Soybean sales followed a similar pattern with net reductions of 23,800 metric tons for the current marketing year, while sales for 2025/2026 reached 818,500 metric tons, primarily to unknown destinations (269,000 metric tons) and Mexico (116,100 metric tons).
"Corn and soybean sales continue to demonstrate the market's focus on forward positioning rather than near-term deliveries," said an agricultural market analyst.
Soybean cake and meal reported net sales reductions of 4,300 metric tons for 2024/2025, a marketing-year low, while securing 145,700 metric tons in forward sales.
Cotton showed more positive results with net sales of 245,000 running bales for 2025/2026, primarily to Vietnam (109,700 running bales), India (53,800 running bales), and China (35,200 running bales).
On the livestock side, beef net sales of 16,600 metric tons for 2025 increased 22 percent from the previous week and 51 percent from the prior four-week average, with Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan as top buyers. Pork net sales of 23,700 metric tons were down 44 percent from the previous week with Mexico purchasing nearly half of the total.
The report noted no new daily export sales for the period ending August 28.
