The midday corn futures prices are trading fractionally to 1 cent lower so far. Futures were down by as much as 6 cents earlier in the session but firmed up after the reports’ release. Preliminary OI showed short covering in May (-4.3k) and net new buying in Dec (+1k) on Thursday. CME also had 7.8k new call options added yesterday with 5k fewer puts across the corn complex.
The only change for domestic corn S&Ds was a nickel worse cash average price, now at $4.75 for the year. Most traders were looking for tighter carryover, though no change was recognized by USDA. The WAOB tightened global corn production by 2.3 MMT. That was by a 1.3 MMT cut to South Africa, Ukraine was 1 MMT tighter and Russia was trimmed by 400k MT. USDA raised Argentina’s production by 1 MMT and left Brazil unchanged. One modest surprise was for a 1 MMT larger export total for Ukraine, despite the 2.8 MMT carry-in and lower production forecast. Global ending stocks were revised 2.4 MMT tighter to 319.6 MMT – compared to the average trade guess of -1.2 MMT.
Mar 24 Corn is at $4.23 3/4, down 2 1/4 cents,
Nearby Cash is at $4.09 3/8, down 1 cent,
May 24 Corn is at $4.37, down 1 cent,
Jul 24 Corn is at $4.48 3/4, down 3/4 cent,
Dec 24 Corn is at $4.68 3/4, down 1/4 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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