Corn Edging Out Gains on Thursday Morning

Corn price action is steady to 1 ½ cents higher so far on Thursday morning. Futures closed out the Wednesday session with contracts down 2 to 4 cents across most contracts. Traders continue to place bets ahead of the supply and demand updates on Friday. There were 154 deliveries issued against September corn futures overnight. The CmdtyView national average Cash Corn price was down 2 3/4 cents at $3.72 ¼. 

Export Sales data will be released this morning, with traders expecting between 0.9 and 2.4 MMT in 2025/26 corn sales during the week that ended on September 4.

EIA data from Wednesday showed ethanol production in the week ending on September 5 at 1.105 million barrels per day, up 30,000 bpd from the week prior. Stocks saw a build of 273,000 barrels to 22.837 million barrels. Ethanol exports in that week were 121,000 barrels per day, up 32,000 bpd from last week. Refiner inputs were down 35,000 bpd to 880,000 bpd.

USDA will release their monthly Crop Production report on Friday, with a Reuters survey of analysts looking for a 2.6 bpa reduction to yield this month to 186.2 bpa. Production is seen at 16.516 bbu, which would be down 226 mbu from the August estimate. The WASDE report will also be release, with traders looking for old crop US corn ending stocks at 1.311 bbu, up 6 mbu vs. August, as new crop is expected to be down 106 mbu to 2.011 bbu.

The Rosario Grain Exchange estimates the 2024/25 Argentina corn production at 50 MMT, with the 2025/26 output number at 61 MMT, citing if there is “normal rainfall.” Brazil’s corn production for 2024/25 was raised by 2.67 MMT to 139.67 MMT according to CONAB.

Sep 25 Corn  closed at $3.97 1/4, down 4 cents, currently unch

Nearby Cash  was $3.72 1/4, down 2 3/4 cents,

Dec 25 Corn  closed at $4.17, down 2 3/4 cents, currently up 1 1/4 cents

Mar 26 Corn  closed at $4.34 1/2, down 3 cents, currently up 1 cent