Corn is trading 4 to 5 ½ cents higher in early Monday futures activity, as Dec is near the high end of the tighter overnight range. Corn prices ended Friday mixed, within 2 cents of UNCH. September options expired. Preliminary open interest across the corn board had dropped 25,300 contracts, but September lost 40,995 due to the pending options expiration. The December contract was at a net 5 cent loss for the week from Fri to Fri.
CFTC reported the corn spec traders held a 106,135 contract net short as of 8/22. That was a 33k contract larger net short vs. the previous week, mainly driven by new sellers. The commercial corn hedgers closed 19.8k short hedges and added 11k new long hedges during the week, leaving them 80,858 contracts net short – the smallest net short since August of 2020.
BAGE estimates Argentina’s planted area will expand nearly 3% vs. LY to 7.3m HA (16m acres). They also mentioned beneficial El Nino rain patterns expected to alleviate drought conditions beginning Q4 ’23 into Q1 ’24.
Russia lowered their corn export tax to 1,932 rubles/MT, down from 2,495.
Sep 23 Corn closed at $4.70 3/4, down 1 1/2 cents, currently up 5 1/4 cents
Nearby Cash was $5.02 1/4, down 3 1/2 cents,
Dec 23 Corn closed at $4.88, down 1/4 cent, currently up 5 cents
Mar 24 Corn closed at $5.02 3/4, down 1/4 cent, currently up 5 1/4 cents
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.
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