Corn Closes Green Despite Midday Pressure

Corn futures came out of the USDA reports in sell mode, but closed with a rally in the last hour and a half of trading. Contracts ended the day with steady to 1 ¼ cent firmer action on Report Day. 

The monthly Crop Production report showed a 0.5 bpa increase to yield at 183.6 bpa. Acreage was left unchanged this month with production hiked by 39 million bushels to 15.186 billion bushels. Stocks for old crop were slashed by 55 mbu to 1.812 bbu, with the exports raised by 40 mbu and ethanol hiked by 15 mbu. That smaller carryover helped to limit the new crop output increase, with 2024/25 stocks down 16 mbu to 2.057 bbu.  

World stocks were cut by 1.82 MMT to 308.35 MMT. South American production totals were left unchanged by the USDA. Argentina’s 2024/25 corn crop is estimated to be in a range of 51 to 52 MMT according to the Rosario Grain Exchange. CONAB released updated corn projections for the 2023/24 crop, raising the production total by just 0.07 MMT to 115.72 MMT.

USDA reported a private export sale of 118,626 MT of 2024/25 corn to unknown destinations this morning. The weekly Export Sales report showed 666,458 MT of corn sold for new crop during the week that ended on September 5. That was shy of the expected sales of 700,000 MT to 1.6 MMT. A total of 1.45 MMT was carried over from the previous marketing year, to take the commitments for the current crop to 13.36 MMT. 

Sep 24 Corn  closed at $3.86 1/4, up 5 3/4 cents,

Nearby Cash  was $3.70 3/8, up 1 cents,

Dec 24 Corn  closed at $4.06, up 1 1/4 cents,

Mar 25 Corn  closed at $4.24 1/2, up 1 cent,

New Crop Cash  was $3.70 3/8, up 1 cents,