Corn Rallies into 3-Day Weekend

Corn futures extended the rally into the 3-day weekend with another 2.7% to 4.2% gains on Friday. July futures ended the week just 3/4 of a cent from their high – which was the highest mark since February. The December contract ended with a 67 cent gain for the week, but stayed under the $6 mark. Dec corn has been below $6 since January. The markets will be closed until Monday evening in recognition of the Juneteenth holiday. July options expire in a week on Friday the 23. 

CFTC’s weekly Commitment of Traders report showed major short covering from corn spec funds during the week that ended 6/13. CME’s data included an 11% increase for December corn OI for the week Friday-Thursday. Managed money funds closed out 43.5k shorts and flipped back to 2,145 contracts net long. Commercial corn traders were 207,452 contracts net short after new short hedges were added. 

USDA’s weekly Ethanol report had cash ethanol prices averaging $2.32 to $2.47/gal regionally, with most markets 1 to 4 cents higher for the week. DDGS were quoted $10 to $35 lower this week, from $176 to $230/ton. Regional corn oil cash prices were reported 2 to 5 cents higher from 58 to 62 cents. 

The 7-day QPF has rainfall for KS/CO Northward into the Dakotas. S.W. NE will catch as much as 4” of rain, with most areas expecting less than 1 1/2”. Eastern IA, and the ECB will miss out this coming week. 

Root zone soil moisture from NASA’s GRACE shows serious concern for ND/ NW MN/ SD. Most of Minnesota and Iowa, and Northern IL/IN could use some net inflow as well. 

Jul 23 Corn  closed at $6.40 1/4, up 17 cents,

Nearby Cash   was $6.49 5/8, up 7 7/8 cents,

Sep 23 Corn  closed at $5.94, up 24 cents,

Dec 23 Corn  closed at $5.97 1/2, up 23 cents,