Corn Rallies on Condition Ratings Drop

Corn futures are trading 9 to 16 ¼ cents higher this morning. They were down 1 to 2 ¾ cents in most contracts on Monday, with a few deferred contracts steady. 

USDA reported separate new crop flash sales of 105,000 MT to Italy and 120,000 MT to unknown destinations via their daily reporting system on Monday, but also reported two additional vessels leaving Ukraine ports with corn export cargos.  

Export Inspections data showed 555,620 MT (21.87 mbu) of US corn shipped in the week that ended on August 4. That was down 38.63% from last week and a 31.94% drop from the same week last year. 

After the Monday close, NASS reported the US corn crop at 45% in the dough stage, 4% behind the 5-year average. They also found 6% of the crop dented, lagging the 9% average as expected due to the late planting. Crop ratings slipped a bit this week, down 3% in the good and excellent categories at 58%. That took the Brugler500 index rating 7 points lower to 348, the lowest for this week since 2005 (excluding 2012 which was far lower). 

A Bloomberg survey puts the trade average guess for US corn yield at 176 bpa in Friday’s report, down 1 bpa from July. 

Sep 22 Corn  closed at $6.08 1/2, down 1 3/4 cents, they are up 15 ½ cents this morning

Nearby Cash  was $6.82 ¼ on Monday down 2 7/8 cents,

Dec 22 Corn  closed at $6.07 1/4, down 2 3/4 cents, they are up 15 cents this morning

Mar 23 Corn  closed at $6.15 1/4, down 2 3/4 cents, they are up 14 ½ cents this morning

New Crop Cash  was $5.72 on Monday, down 2 1/2 cents,