This article has been reprinted from the Dec. 19 USDA Grain Transportation Report.
For the week ending December 12, total inspections of grain (corn, wheat, and soybeans) for export from all major U.S. export regions reached 2.53 million metric tons (mmt).
Total grain inspections were up 11 percent from the previous week, down 4 percent from last year and down 13 percent from the 3-year average.
The week-to-week increase in inspections was driven by a 38-percent increase in wheat inspections and a 40-percent jump in corn inspections.
Soybean inspections decreased 7 percent from the previous week.
Pacific Northwest (PNW) grain inspections increased 11 percent from the past week, and Mississippi Gulf inspections increased 12 percent.
Although Texas Gulf grain inspections represented a smaller share of the total, weekly inspections in the region increased 86 percent, with year to date inspections up 71 percent from last year because of a strong demand for wheat.