Corn Market Sees Modest Gains Following Strong Export Inspection Data

The corn market is experiencing slight gains at midday on Monday, up 4 cents, buoyed by robust inspection figures released this morning. There were no new deliveries reported against March corn overnight. According to CmdtyView, the national average Cash Corn price increased by 3 1/4 cents, now standing at $4.32 1/4.

This morning, the USDA announced a private export sale of 126,000 metric tons of corn to Japan for the 2024/25 marketing year.

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Today’s Export Inspections report revealed a total of 1.819 million metric tons (or 71.64 million bushels) of corn shipped during the week ending March 6. This figure marks an impressive increase of 34.54% from the previous week, setting a new marketing year high, and is 56.04% higher than the same week last year. Japan was the largest destination, receiving 399,293 metric tons, followed by Mexico with 391,083 metric tons and South Korea with 209,098 metric tons. Cumulatively, marketing year exports have reached 29.078 million metric tons (1.145 billion bushels), reflecting a 33% increase compared to this time last year.

As anticipation builds for the USDA report scheduled for Tuesday, analysts expect a reduction of 24 million bushels in the US corn carryout projection, adjusting it to 1.516 billion bushels. Additionally, traders predict a decrease in Argentina’s total corn production by 1 million metric tons, bringing it to 49 million metric tons, while Brazil’s production is expected to remain stable at 126 million metric tons.

The latest CFTC Commitment of Traders report from Friday indicated that speculators reduced their net long position by 117,702 contracts for the week ending March 4, marking the second largest bearish move recorded on a Tuesday-to-Tuesday timeframe. This change reduced their net long position to 218,752 contracts.

Additionally, AgRural reports that as of last Thursday, the Brazilian second corn crop was 92% complete.

Mar 25 Corn: $4.59 1/2, up 4 1/4 cents

Nearby Cash: $4.32 1/4, up 3 1/4 cents

May 25 Corn: $4.72 1/4, up 3 cents

Dec 25 Corn: $4.55, up 3/4 cent

New Crop Cash: $4.20 1/4, up 1 cent

On the date of publication, Austin Schroeder did not hold (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. The information presented here is for informational purposes only. For more details, please see the Barchart Disclosure Policy
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