Corn Pulling Back, as CONAB Raises Production Estimate
The corn market is trading with Thursday AM losses of 2 to 4 ¼ cents. Corn futures were held up on Wednesday, closing with gains of 3 to 6 ¼ cents. The average close for December futures has been $4.69 in February, which is used for determining the base crop insurance price and 3 cents above last year so far. The cmdtyView national average Cash Corn price was up 6 1/4 cents at $4.56 1/4.
Prior to this morning’s Export Sales report, the trade is looking for USDA to report between 0.8-1.7 MMT in corn sales for 2024/25 in the week of 2/6. New crop sales are seen in a range of 0-500,000 MT.
Weekly EIA data from Wednesday morning showed 1.082 million barrels per day of ethanol production in the week that ended on February 7, down 30,000 bpd from the week prior. Stocks fell 720,000 barrels to 25.692 million barrels.
CONAB data was released this morning, showing a 2.5 MMT increase to their 2025 production total at 122.01 MMT (USDA is at 126 MMT). Much of that increase came via a larger second crop, up 1.4 MMT to 94.63 MMT on larger acreage, with the first crop up 1.04 MMT to 22.53 MMT. The Rosario Grains Exchange estimated Argentina’s corn production total at 46 MMT on Wednesday, a 2 MMT drop from their previous number.
Algeria also issued a tender for 240,000 MT of corn, with a deadline of Thursday. A South Korean importer purchased 132,000 MT of corn overnight.
Mar 25 Corn closed at $4.90 1/4, up 6 1/4 cents, currently down 4 1/4 cents
Nearby Cash was $4.56 1/4, up 6 1/4 cents,
May 25 Corn closed at $5.04, up 6 cents, currently down 4 cents
Dec 25 Corn closed at $4.73 1/2, up 3 1/4 cents, currently down 2 3/4 cents
New Crop Cash was $4.41 5/8, up 3 cents,
On the date of publication, Austin Schroeder did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.