USDA weekly sales numbers have been slow at best and disheartening at worst, except for beef and pork in the week ending May 11. Beef exports were modestly higher and more significant than expected, with Japan, South Korea and China leading the way. Net beef sales totaled 17,400 tons, up 5% for the week and 7% from the four-week average.

Pork sales were also higher than the week prior, with nearly half of all sales volume going to Mexico. Net pork sales totaled 31,900 tons, 6% more than the week prior but 25% lower than the four-week average. Soybean oil also showed some encouraging numbers but remained lower than average. Physical shipments of corn were slightly more than what’s needed to meet USDA’s projections for the marketing year, while wheat had a net reduction of 42,100 tons.

Read more on export volumes here.