Corn Showing Slight Losses Early on Thursday

Corn price action is fractionally to a penny lower so far on Thursday AM trade. Futures saw midweek pressure on Wednesday, with contracts down 2 ½ to 9 ½ cents at the close. Open interest was down 4,386 contracts, mostly due to the July (-16,723), with September up 9,686 contracts. The CmdtyView national average Cash Corn price was down 9 1/2 cents to $4.26 1/2.  Crude oil losses of $5.07 is adding pressure as US and Iran negotiations are reportedly in the nearing the finish line.

A wet forecast for much of the US growing region with a decent portion of the US crop planted was a pressure factor. Lack of confirmation from China on the White House $17 billion figure from the weekend has also weighed on the market.

EIA data from Wednesday morning showed a total of 1.111 million barrels per day of ethanol output in the week ending on May 15. That was up 29,000 bpd from the previous week and 75,000 bpd larger than the same week last year. Ethanol stocks were up just 5,000 barrels to 24.875 million barrels. Refiner inputs of ethanol were up 9,000 bpd to 917,000 barrels per day, with export slipping 13,000 bpd to 149,000 bpd.

USDA’s Export Sales report will be out shortly, with traders looking for 0.8-1.6 MMT of old crop corn sold in the week of 5/14. New crop business is seen at 150,000 to 300,000 MT. 

A couple South Korean importers purchased corn overnight, with 65,000 MT via tender and 66,000 MT via a private deal.

Jul 26 Corn  closed at $4.65 3/4, down 9 1/2 cents, currently down 1/2 cent

Nearby Cash  was $4.26 1/2, down 9 1/2 cents,

Sep 26 Corn  closed at $4.72 1/2, down 9 cents, currently down 3/4 cent

Dec 26 Corn  closed at $4.89 1/4, down 8 1/2 cents, currently down 1 cent

New Crop Cash  was $4.42 1/1, down 9 cents,