Corn Market Shows Minor Gains After Weaker Opening

The corn market has seen slight improvements of 1 to 2 cents as trading progresses on Monday morning. This comes in response to a slower start following Sunday night’s opening, as corn futures experienced a downturn on Friday, with losses ranging from 3 to 8 cents. The front months were particularly hard hit; however, March futures remained up 5 ½ cents over the past week. Open interest dropped by 12,108 contracts on Friday, and 53,160 of those were in March due to the ongoing Goldman roll. The average cash corn price in the U.S., as reported by cmdtyView, fell by 7 ¾ cents, settling at $4.53 ¾. Amid these fluctuations, President Trump announced plans to introduce reciprocal tariffs on multiple countries next week, leading traders to adopt a cautious approach before the weekend.

According to the Commitment of Traders data from the CFTC released Friday afternoon, large managed money speculators increased their long positions by 13,496 contracts as of February 4. Their net position rose to 364,217 contracts, with outright longs reaching a record 447,897 contracts.

U.S. Export Sales have reported a total of 44.767 MMT in export commitments for the marketing year, representing a 28% increase compared to last year. This marks 72% of the USDA’s estimate, slightly above the average pace of 70%.

In Brazil, corn exports for January amounted to 3.594 MMT, the lowest figure in four years for that month. This figure reflects a 25.2% decline from last year and a 15.75% drop from December. AgRural notes that as of last Thursday, 18% of Brazil’s first corn crop has been harvested while 20% of the second crop has been planted.

As for specific corn futures:

• Mar 25 Corn closed at $4.87 ½, down 7 ¾ cents, but has currently gained 1 cent.
• Nearby Cash price was $4.53 ¾, down 7 ¾ cents.
• May 25 Corn closed at $5.00 ½, down 7 cents, with a current uptick of 1 cent.
• Dec 25 Corn closed at $4.66, down 3 ¾ cents, and is now up 1 ¾ cents.
• New Crop Cash was at $4.34 5/8, down 4 ½ cents.

On the date of publication, Austin Schroeder did not hold positions in any securities mentioned in this article. All information is provided only for informational purposes. For further details, please refer to the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.

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