Trading in the corn market will resume at 8:30 am CST following a New Year’s holiday break. On the last trading day, March corn futures closed at $4.40 1/4, down 1/4 cent, with a nearby cash corn price at $3.96 1/4, which fell by 1 ½ cents. Open interest increased by 5,462 contracts, despite a reduction of 4,078 contracts in March.
The USDA announced a payment of $44.36 per acre for corn under the Farm Bridge Assistance program. Additionally, the export sales report from the USDA indicated 2.2 million metric tons of corn were sold during the week of December 18, marking a 5-week high and a 28.7% increase from the same week last year. In ethanol production, EIA data showed output at 1.12 million barrels for the week ending December 26, an increase of 25,000 barrels per day from the previous week.
