USDA reported a private export sale of 264,000 metric tons of soybeans to China this morning.

The Export Inspections report released Monday morning showed soybean shipments of 1.136 million metric tons (41.74 million bushels) for the week ended February 5. This was 13.8% lower than the previous week and 3.5% below the same week last year. China was the largest destination with 747,198 metric tons, followed by Mexico with 92,655 metric tons and Germany with 57,087 metric tons. Marketing year soybean shipments since September now total 23.136 million metric tons (850 million bushels), still 34.4% below the same period last year.

The monthly WASDE report will be released Tuesday. Analysts are expecting no major changes to US soybean stocks, estimated at 348 million bushels, compared to 380 million bushels in January. Brazil’s soybean production is expected to increase by 1.2 million metric tons to 179.2 million metric tons, while Argentina’s production is estimated to decline by 0.4 million metric tons to 48.1 million metric tons.

AgRural estimates Brazil’s soybean harvest at 16% complete as of Thursday, ahead of last year’s 15% pace.