Corn Rallies Out of Weekend

Speculative buying during this week’s “on the road” crop surveys led the corn market a nickel to 7 1/2 cents higher on the day. Various social media posts reported fields with zero or very low ear numbers in the sample area for South Dakota, and Ohio reports were suggesting a number below last year’s record yield.  USDA had Ohio average yield 3 bpa below last year but had SD 15 bpa above last year in the August NASS estimate. 

According to the weekly Crop Progress report this afternoon, 97% of the national corn crop had reached the silking stage, and 75% was in the dough stage as of 8/21. NASS saw 31% of the crop dented and 4% mature. That compares to 35% and 4% on average. As for conditions, 57% was good/ex – matching last week, for a 342 Brugler500 score – down 5 points from last week due to deterioration in the low end. 

Weekly Inspections data had 740,508 MT of corn shipments for the week that ended 8/18. That was up from 540k MT last week, but 26k MT below the same week last year. Mexico, Japan, and China were all shipped more than 100k MT. Accumulated corn exports reached 53.821 MMT through 8/18, which was 17.7% behind last year’s pace. 

Sep 22 Corn  closed at $6.33 1/2, up 7 1/2 cents,

Nearby Cash   was $6.85 1/1, up 7 1/4 cents,

Dec 22 Corn  closed at $6.29, up 5 3/4 cents,

Mar 23 Corn  closed at $6.36 1/4, up 5 3/4 cents,

New Crop Cash   was $5.96, up 6 1/4 cents,