Front month corn futures are trading fractionally lower going into the Export Sales report. The March contract kept to a tight range from -1 to +½ cents overnight. Corn prices went home 4 ½ to 5 ¾ cents higher on Wednesday. Preliminary open interest suggests net new buying, up 8,465 contracts on the day. Nearby March had the biggest increase. Dollar Index remains closed to the highest levels since mid-December, but dropped on Wednesday to aid commodities priced in dollars. A Chinese cut in bank reserve requirements was seen as an attempt to stimulate the economy there.
EIA’s weekly update showed ethanol production fell 236k bpd during the week ending 1/19 to just 818k barrels per day. That snapped the 17-wk streak of +1m bpd production and was the lowest since February of 2021. Insiders were citing the cold weather that week for the low output, as similar declines have happened in other “well below zero” temp environments.
Traders are looking for USDA to report between 725k MT to 1.4 MMT of old crop corn was sold during the week that ended 1/18. New crop corn Export Sales are expected to be below 50k MT.
Brazil will see active rains across the northern 2/3 of the country over the next 10 days. This is being presented as delaying soybean harvest and thus second crop corn planting, but will also mean more soil moisture for germination of said second crop.
Mar 24 Corn closed at $4.52 1/4, up 5 3/4 cents, currently down 1/4 cent
Nearby Cash was $4.30 3/4, up 6 1/8 cents,
May 24 Corn closed at $4.62 1/2, up 5 3/4 cents, currently down 1/2 cent
Jul 24 Corn closed at $4.70 3/4, up 4 3/4 cents, currently down 1/2 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.
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