Peanuts, soybean oil, hides and pork were among U.S. produce whose export sales decreased in the week ending January 21, 2024. On an upper trajectory were corn, soybeans, cotton, rice and wheat, due to increasing demand in mainly Asia and Europe.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released these weekly summaries on January 19, 2024.

 

Peanuts down

Farmers received farm gate prices of ¢27.7 per pound of peanuts up to January 13, a drop of 0.3 cents.

Total marketed peanuts were 16.8 million pounds down from the peak 54.5 million pounds of a week ago. This drop in both price and quantity reflects a lowering demand for the nuts. 

Runner groundnut varieties’ prices were down 1.7 cents from week 1 of January to cost ¢26.3 a pound.  The quantity in the market also depreciated by 24.4 million pounds to settle at 46.8 million by mid-January. 

Grains, oilseed up

On the flip side, during the week ending January 21, trade was blossoming for virtually all grains and oilseed.

Banking on China, which ordered 199,300 metric tonnes or 56% of all exports, U.S.’ sorghum sales were up by 46%.

Soybeans and its byproducts like soybean cake and meal also showed week-to-week improvements. Buoyed by increased sales to unknown importers and traditional destinations like China and Japan, soybeans rose to 781,300 MT in sales. Though impressive, these early 2024 sales were 6% lower than the average for December 2023.

Riding on total sales of 1.251 million tonnes in the 2023-24 season, corn increased by 61% over the previous 4-week median. On January 22, the grain saw a slight price rise of ¢0.22 to settle at $4.46 per bushel. This was, however, a cent below the January 12 threshold of $4.47 a bushel.

The same scenario played out for wheat, which sold 707,600 metric tonnes for the 2023-24 marketing year, a slight hike from the foregoing week. The main destination for this major U.S. produce was the Philippines, which accounted for 21.83% of the sales or 154,500 MT.

For cotton, it was no less than 420,000 bales that earned the textile product 60% gains over the previous week’s sales.

Other Decreases

Decreases in the sale of hides and skins saw only 446,100 pieces sell by January 21.  Chinese imports amassed 64.3% of all sales, at 286,900 pieces but were still slightly lower than in the previous week. Other major importers like South Africa and Mexico also imported less pieces.

Soybean oil lost by 91% from the December 2023 margins, selling only100 tonnes in the week ending January 19, 2024. This is amid increasing demand in the domestic market for making biofuels. Canada, also keen on biofuel grains, gobbled up all imports.

Pork and beef also saw slight decrement in sales, with pork losing 200 metric tonnes to the main destination of Mexico.

The next weekly report by USDA for U.S. produce will be on January 25 and 26, 2024.