Corn prices saw a slight decline of 1 to 3 cents in the front months on Friday morning, following a Thursday session where futures closed up to 4 cents higher. The March contract expires today, with 49 deliveries issued overnight. Open interest rose by 28,874 contracts on Thursday, while the CmdtyView national average cash corn price increased by 2 ¼ cents to $4.19 ¾. Additionally, crude oil prices rose by $9.15 on Thursday, providing spillover support.
In export sales data released on Thursday, 1.53 million metric tons (MMT) of old crop corn were sold for the week ending March 5, a 58.2% increase from the same week last year. Japan was the leading buyer, purchasing 670,000 MT, followed by Mexico at 367,600 MT and South Korea at 209,100 MT. New crop sales were minimal at 500 MT. Census data revealed that a record 6.61 MMT (260.1 million bushels) of corn were shipped in January, with distillers at their highest in four years for that month at 1.01 MMT.
CONAB’s latest estimates for the Brazilian corn crop stand at 138.27 MMT, a slight reduction from last month, with the second crop forecast trimmed by 0.83 MMT to 108.43 MMT.
