Corn Holds onto Bounce into Friday’s Close, as CFTC shows Specs Turning Bearish

Corn futures slipped into the Friday close, with contracts steady to 1 ¾ cents higher on the day. July was down 4 ¾ cents this week, with December down 5 ¾ cents. The CmdtyView national average Cash Corn price was up 1 1/4 cents at $3.81. 

The weekly CFTC Commitment of Traders report showed the largest 2 week (Tuesday/Tuesday) shift to the short side in the history of managed money in corn futures and option since the inception of the report in 2006 of 210,829 contracts. A total of 120,407 contracts were in the last week as of 6/9, with specs now net short 5,325 contracts. Of the shift, 92,863 contracts were new shorts, with longs only seeing 27,544 contracts of liquidation.

NOAA’s 7-day QPF shows precip totals expected in a range of 1.5 to 4 inches from MO to OH, with parts of eastern IA and WI seen with 1 to 2 inches. The western half of IA, MN, and much or the northern Plains west of the Missouri River is seen with little to 0 rainfall.

Export Sales data now has the old crop export commitment total at 82.767 MMT, which is 98% of USDA’s newly updated export projection, matching the 98% average sales pace. Shipments at 64.5 MMT are 76% of the USDA number and slightly behind the 78% average shipping pace. New crop business has totaled 4.124 MMT so far this year, a 31.6% increase from the same point last year. 

Jul 26 Corn  closed at $4.12 3/4, up 1 cent,

Nearby Cash  was $3.81 1/1, up 1 1/4 cents,

Sep 26 Corn  closed at $4.20 3/4, up 3/4 cent,

Dec 26 Corn  closed at $4.40 1/4, up 3/4 cent,

New Crop Cash  was $3.95 1/1, up 1 1/4 cents,