Front Month Corn Rallying into Week’s Last Trade Day

Open interest was up 3,788 contracts confirming some net new buying yesterday. Corn is working another 7 to 12 cents higher so far this morning. On Thursday, corn closed at or near the highs for the day after printing double digit gains of as much as 4.6%. The September and December contracts were more than 25 cents higher. Various excuses were made for the buying, including dry weather, struggles with Ukrainian corn exports, a weak dollar, and higher energy prices. 

Old crop corn export bookings were 273,255 MT for the week that ended 6/8. That was inline with estimates. New crop bookings came in at 21k MT which was the low end of estimates. USDA had old crop commitments at 38.612 MMT and new crop at only 2.979 MMT as of 6/8. 

EIA reported ethanol producers averaged 1.018 million barrels per day through the week that ended 6/9. That was down by 18k bpd from the week prior. Ethanol stocks were 722k barrels tighter to 22.226 million. The EIA’s RFS standards were finalized through 2025, with the official announcement delayed to June 21st . 

Jul 23 Corn  closed at $6.23 1/4, up 15 1/2 cents, currently up 7 3/4 cents

Nearby Cash   was $6.41 3/4, up 13 7/8 cents,

Sep 23 Corn  closed at $5.70, up 25 cents, currently up 11 1/4 cents

Dec 23 Corn  closed at $5.74 1/2, up 25 1/4 cents, currently up 10 1/2 cents