The U.S. Department of Ag­riculture (USDA) last week reported another Chinese purchase of more than 1 million metric tons of U.S. corn, pushing cumulative U.S. corn sales to China so far in the current marketing year to roughly 14.7 million metric tons, Agri-Pulse noted. That is 63% more than a year ago, when volumes were at multiyear highs.

The recent flurry of large Chinese purchases of U.S. corn — much of which analysts say is to replace Ukrainian supplies — is helping push the U.S. closer to the record of 21.4...