US wheat net export sales for the 2019-20 crop (June-May) reached 462,224 mt in the week ended August 8, down 5.2% week on week, partly led by large reductions from unknown destinations, latest data from the US Department of Agriculture showed.
However, the latest weekly sales came within market expectations, as analysts had estimated sales to be in the range of 195,000-494,900 mt for the 2019-20 marketing year.
A total of 126,500 mt of net sales reductions from unknown destinations were recorded in the week to August 8.
US wheat exporters also recorded their first net export sales for the 2020-21 crop since the new marketing year began June 1. Buyers booked 12,250 mt of wheat for 2020-21, according to the USDA.
Physical wheat exports -- those which have been shipped from the US -- totaled 636,150 mt in the latest week, up 73.3% from a week earlier, according to the USDA report released Thursday.
Mexico emerged as the largest importer for the US wheat, shipping in 121,200 mt during the latest week. Wheat shipments to Japan totaled 103,600 mt.
Year to date, US wheat exports have totaled 4.8 million mt, 26.8% higher than a year earlier.
Total commitments -- cumulative exports plus outstanding sales -- rose 4.9% on week to 9.9 million mt in the week ended August 8.
The USDA recently bumped up US wheat exports estimate for 2019-20 to 26.5 million mt from the previous outlook of 25.9 million mt.
As the estimates were raised, the US is expected to maintain a slight lead over the EU and remain as the world's third-largest wheat exporter in the 2019-20 marketing year.
Earlier, USDA projected the EU to take over US as the third-largest wheat exporter in 2019-20, but difficult weather conditions seen recently have triggered the agency to lower the exports from the bloc.
MEXICO STAYS AHEAD
Mexico continued to stay as the largest buyer of US wheat, ahead of Philippines for the current marketing year, data from U.S. Wheat Associates showed.
Marketing year-to-date (June 1-August 8) wheat sales to Mexico were 1.4 million mt, compared with the Philippines' 1.2 million mt, according to the USW data.
Mexico mostly buys Hard Red Winter grade wheat, while the Philippines largely imports Hard Red Spring wheat.
Marketing year-to-date net export sales to Japan totaled 1 million mt, down 1% from the same period a year ago.
