Corn Futures Mixed Heading into Export Sales Report

December corn futures are fractionally higher this morning, but old crop contracts are 1 to 4 cents lower. At the closing bell on Wednesday, prices were 1 3/4 to 2 cents weaker with May above the $6 mark and March off by a penny. There was lots of participation, with preliminary open interest rising 9,341 contracts. Most of the buying was in the new crop slots. New crop prices had firmed by less than a penny on the day. USDA maintained $5.45 as the cash average price. 

Ahead of the weekly USDA Export Sales report today, traders are looking for 500,000 MT to  1.5 MMT of corn bookings for the week that ended 1/6. Ethanol stocks rose sharply last week as gasoline consumption per EIA continues to be sharply below year ago and thus limiting blending opportunities. Ethanol is still about 18 cents/gallon cheaper than gas at the futures level.

December 1st corn stocks were 11.647 bbu in the USDA report, slightly above the trade average guess. The NASS crop production report left average corn yield UNCH @ 177 bpa. USDA did revise harvested acres 300k higher, which set the total 21/22 output at 15.115 billion bushels. USDA raised corn use for ethanol by 75 mbu, but also reduced the export figure by 75 mbu. That left the carryout at 1.540 billion, up 47 mbu from the December figure. 

Mar 22 Corn  closed at $5.99, down 2 cents, down 4 this morning

Nearby Cash  was $5.86 7/8 on Wednesday, down 2 1/8 cents,

May 22 Corn  closed at $6.00 3/4, down 1 3/4 cents, down 4 this morning

Dec 22 Corn  closed at $5.58 ¼ on Wednesday, up 3/4 cent, up ¼ this morning

New Crop Cash  was $5.42 5/8, up 5/8 cent,