Weakness in the Corn Market Continues on Friday Trade

Corn prices are down 1 to 2 cents as futures round out the week of trade. Futures faced late pressure on Thursday, with contracts closing down 1 to 4 cents at the closing bell. Open interest was down 5,434 contracts on Thursday, heavily in the December contract. The CmdtyView national average Cash Corn price was down 2 1/2 cents at $4.38 1/2. 

EIA data from Thursday showed ethanol production in the week of October 9 at 1.065 million barrels per day, up 12,000 bpd on the week. Ethanol stocks were up 199,000 barrels to 23.942 million barrels. Refiner inputs were up 2,000 bpd to 899,000 bpd, as exports of ethanol slipped back by 45,000 bpd to 121,000 bpd.

USDA’s Export Sales report will be out this morning, as traders are looking for a range of 0.5-1.2 MMT for 2026/27 corn sales in the week of 10/8 per a Reuters survey. Bookings for 2027/28 are seen in a range of 0-50,000 MT. 

CONAB data from this morning showed the 2026/27 corn crop at 148 MMT, up 2.4% from a year ago if realized. USDA is at 139 MMT. The first crop is taking up a larger part of the increase, up 8.9% to 32.1 MMT. Much of that was via a 10.72% jump in acreage.

A South Korean importer purchased 134,000 MT of optional origin corn in a private deal overnight. China set their official import tariff rate quota at 7.2 MMT for 2027, consistent with their previous TRQ.

Dec 26 Corn  closed at $4.78, down 2 3/4 cents, currently down 1 1/2 cents

Nearby Cash  was $4.38 1/2, down 2 1/2 cents,

Mar 27 Corn  closed at $4.91, down 3 1/4 cents, currently down 1 3/4 cents

May 27 Corn  closed at $4.98, down 3 3/4 cents, currently down 1 3/4 cents