The US Department of Agriculture released Friday much-expected soybean export sales data for the January 4-February 14 period.
The data had been delayed due to the recent government shutdown.
The USDA reported net sales of 6.531 million mt for the period. It said 3.922 million mt were reported as net sales to China.
US exports have been below the usual pace since trade tensions created difficulties for the US to export to China.
"Closely watched Chinese sales for the period totaled 3.922 million mt, below the now somewhat infamous '5 million mt level' promised by the Chinese," said Peter Meyer, head of grain and oilseed at S&P Global Platts Analytics, in a report.
Since the 2018-19 marketing year began September 1, total commitments -- cumulative exports plus outstanding sales-- were reported at 36.901 million mt, 17% below the same period last year. The total commitments represent 72% of the USDA's 51.029 million mt estimate exports for the entire marketing year.
Analysts have been waiting for the data to help understand if the US could be able to fulfill that official projection.
"Marketing year soybean export sales to date fall short of the seasonal pace needed to hit USDA's target by 262 million bushels. That's much better than the short 349 million prior to this data, but where will the additional buying come from?" said Arlan Suderman, chief commodities economist for INTL FCStone.
One source said the data showed the pace needed to sell USDA's full forecast, of about 500,000 mt per week is "doable relative to history," but there could be no more hiccups in export sales.
On Friday, CBOT soybeans futures ended almost unchanged, despite the USDA data release, as market participants were still in "wait and see mode," expecting fresh news out of ongoing US-China negotiations, sources told Platts.
