This article has been reprinted from the Jan. 31 USDA Grain Transportation Report.
For the week ending January 24, total inspections of grain (corn, wheat, and soybeans) for export from all major U.S. export regions reached 2.24 million metric tons (mmt), down 22 percent from the previous week, down 18 percent from last year, and 5 percent below the 3-year average.
Inspections of each of the three major grains were down from the previous week, with wheat dropping 31 percent; corn down 21 percent; and soybeans down 18 percent.
Pacific Northwest (PNW) grain inspections decreased 13 percent from the previous week, and Mississippi Gulf inspections decreased 18 percent for the same period.
Year-to-date grain inspections for the new year are down 9 percent, but corn inspections have remained fairly strong.
Last year, annual grain inspections ended the year slightly above 2017 despite a sizeable decrease in soybean inspections.