
The old crop corn market is fractionally higher to 5 3/4 cents in the black so far at midday. New crop prices are fractionally weaker so far, but up from their 3 1/4 cent losses from earlier.
An Allendale survey suggests US producers intend to plant 90.414 million acres of 23/24 corn, compared to USDA’s working 91m acre number. The International Grains Council cut old crop production 3 MMT, and bumped stocks up 1 MMT to 256 MMT. Their initial estimate for 2023/24 global production is 1.202 billion MT.
USDA announced another 641k MT old crop corn sale to China this morning, following the 667k MT sale yesterday and the 612k from Tuesday.
Weekly sales from FAS had 1.236 MMT of old crop bookings from the week that ended 3/9. That was down from 1.4 MMT last week and from 1.8 MMT the week prior, but was in the upper range of the pre-report estimates. USDA also reported 183k MT of new crop bookings for the week, bringing the forward book to 1.859 MMT. Last year had 2.132 MMT on the books for forward sales at the same time. Old crop commitments were tallied at 31.886 MMT (1.255 bbu) as of 3/9. That is 39% behind last year’s pace and is 65% of the season’s forecast.
The weekly Export Sales report also had 293k MT of old crop sorghum sold and 63k MT for 23/24 delivery from the week that ended 3/9.
The weekly EIA report indicated a 4,000 barrel per day increase in ethanol production for the week that ended on 3/17 to 1.014 million bpd. Stocks were also on the rise, up 1.074 million barrels to 26.394 million barres. Over half (553,000 barrels) of the build was in the Gulf, with another 328,000 barrels increase for the East Coast, implying a stock up for exports.
May 23 Corn is at $6.32 1/4, up 5 3/4 cents,
Nearby Cash is at $6.34 3/8, up 6 1/4 cents,
Jul 23 Corn is at $6.16, up 3 3/4 cents,
Sep 23 Corn is at $5.66 1/4, up 1/4 cent,
On the date of publication, Alan Brugler 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.