Small Gaps Take Corn To $6

Corn futures are trading double digits higher into the Tuesday session. Overnight action jumped 6-10 cents from the Monday close. The ensuing overnight rally took the board to back above the $6 mark. Into day portion of Tuesday, prices are still up double digits with Dec just off that mark and Sep at $5.96 as a carry is getting built. Corn futures left 2-4 cent gaps at the open and closed with near 20 cent gains for the day. December was up 3.5% on the day. 

The NASS Crop Progress report showed 62% of the corn crop was silking as of 7/24. That is down 8% points from the average pace and up from 37% last week. Nationally, 13% of the crop reached the dough stage, up from 6% last week but 2 ppts behind the average. Corn conditions were 3% less Good/Ex through the week to 61% for a Brugler500 rating of 356. That was down 7 points wk/wk nationally. IL dropped just 1 point through the week to a 374, where IA was 3 points lower but still at 392 on the Brugler500. 

USDA reported 724,214 MT of corn was exported during the week that ended 7/21. That was down from 1.075 MMT last week and was down 530,269 MT from the same week last year. We are reminded that price is the intersection of both supply and demand. Mexico was the week’s top destination from 236,118 MT, followed by China with 209,419 MT. Accumulated shipments reached 51.027 MMT, compared to 61.625 MMT at the same point last year. 

EU’s Crop Monitoring system reduced the EU corn yield estimate by 9.2 bpa to ~107.8 citing the heat. 

Traders expect US crop condition ratings to decline seasonally, i.e. about 1% in the good/ex categories since last week. NASS will update Crop Progress at 3:00 CDT.

Sep 22 Corn  closed at $5.80, up 15 3/4 cents, currently up 15 1/2 cents

Nearby Cash  was $6.66 1/2, up 16 cents,

Dec 22 Corn  closed at $5.83 3/4, up 19 1/2 cents, currently up 16 cents

Mar 23 Corn  closed at $5.90 3/4, up 19 3/4 cents, currently up 15 1/2 cents

New Crop Cash  was $5.47, up 19 3/8 cents,