Corn Market Heads For Weekend on Pullback

Corn futures faded Friday afternoon into the weekend, closing with 3 1/4 to 4 1/4 cent losses. Futures traded within a dime range on the week’s last trade day, while the week’s trading range was 56 3/4 cents in July and 47 3/4 cents in December. July corn was down 50 1/4 cents lower Fri to Fri and Dec was down by 40 cents. USDA’s weekly Ethanol Report quoted the week’s cash average corn oil prices ranged 73.33 c/lb to 76.89 cents regionally., compared to 80.25 to 81.5 c/lb last week. DDGS FOB prices were $295-$308/ton in the Gulf, matching last week, while PNW was down from $365/ton to $342. 

CFTC reported managed money traders had closed 12.9k open longs and opened 9.5k new shorts during the week of 5/31. Commercial corn traders closed 12.5k corn short hedges and opened 9.2k new long hedges wk/wk. That left the funds 22.5k contracts less net long at 268,964 contracts, and left the commercials 21.7k contracts less net short at 613,701 contracts. Total OI across corn futures and options slid 15k contracts from week to week. 

FAS reported the weekly Export Sales for old crop corn were 185,800 MT. That was up from last week, though at the low end of estimates. Saudi Arabia and Japan were the top buyers. For new crop bookings, USDA reported only 48,700 MT were sold during the week that ended 5/26. That was below estimates. Corn shipments from the report came in at 1.58 MMT, which was a 13% dip wk/wk. FAS’s weekly data showed accumulated commitments were 2.332 bbu as of 5/26, which is 93% of USDA’s forecast. Of that, 73% has already been shipped through 5/26. 

Jul 22 Corn  closed at $7.27, down 3 1/4 cents,

Nearby Cash  was $7.24 5/8, down 2 1/2 cents,

Sep 22 Corn  closed at $7.01 1/4, down 3 1/2 cents,

Dec 22 Corn  closed at $6.90, down 4 1/4 cents,

New Crop Cash  was $6.72, down 3 7/8 cents,