Corn futures are trading steady to 1 ½ cents higher ahead of this morning’s USDA Grain Stocks and Planted Acreage reports. They continued the selling on Thursday, losing 1 ¾ to 6 ¼ cents. The Drought Monitor did show some dryness expanding into the D1 stage for portions of the Eastern Corn Belt, but forecasts also provide some relief for that area over the next week.
Thursday’s Export Sales report revealed just 542,177 MT of old crop corn sold in the week that ended on June 20. Mexico bought the bulk of it, at 453,700 MT, as Japan followed up with 137,800 MT in net purchases. There were a total of 277,700 MT in net reductions from unknown on switches to destinations. New crop sales picked up from the week prior to a 4-week high at 139,298 MT, in the middle of the 0 to 200,000 MT estimates. The 2024/25 commitments are above year ago for this date, but still low from a multi-year perspective.
The June Acreage report from USDA will be out this morning, with the average trade estimate calling for a 317,000 acre increase to corn at 93.353 million acres. The trade range of public estimates is 89 to 91.3 million acres. Grain Stock data released on Friday is expected to show 4.873 bbu of corn stocks as of June 1, which is 770 mbu above a year ago. The range of guesses is a wide 338 mbu, from 4.675 to 5.013 bbu.
Stats Canada showed 3.64 million corn acres planted across the country this year, down 4.8% from a year earlier. World ending stocks for corn were left unchanged in the International Grains Council update on Thursday at 281 MMT, with a 3 MMT increase to production being offset by an increase to estimated consumption.
Jul 24 Corn closed at $4.13 3/4, down 6 1/4 cents, currently up 1 ½ cents
Nearby Cash was $4.02 5/8, down 5 cents,
Sep 24 Corn closed at $4.22 1/2, down 3 cents, currently up 1/4 cents
Dec 24 Corn closed at $4.33 3/4, down 2 3/4 cents, currently unch
New Crop Cash was $3.99 5/8, down 3 3/4 cents,
On the date of publication, Alan Brugler did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
