Corn futures experienced significant losses following the USDA data release on Monday, with front-month futures closing down between 22 and 24.25 cents. Deferred contracts also saw declines of 5 to 14.5 cents, while the national average cash corn price fell 24 cents to $3.83 and a quarter.
The USDA reported a corn yield of 186.5 bushels per acre (bpa), an increase of 0.5 bpa since November, with harvested acres up by 1.3 million to 91.3 million total acres. This brought total production to 17.021 billion bushels (bbu), which is an increase of 269 million bushels from November. Conversely, December 1 corn stocks were reported at 13.282 bbu, surpassing analysts’ expectations.
USDA’s WASDE data also indicated an increase in US ending stocks by 198 million bushels to 2.227 bbu, alongside a global ending stock increase to 290.91 million metric tons (MMT). In export activity, 1.49 million metric tons (58.66 million bushels) of corn were shipped during the week of January 8, marking a 12.75% increase from the previous week and 60.54% above the same period last year.
