Corn Corrects Lower into the Weekend
The corn market was faced with pressure on Friday, as contracts wee down 4 to 8 cents across most months. March ended the week with a 5 cent loss. March options expired today, with traders going for a pin at the 490 strike. CmdtyView’s national average Cash Corn price was down 6 ¾ cents at $4.59 1/2.
Commitment of Traders data from CFTC showed spec funds in corn futures and options adding 21,144 contracts to their net long in the week ending on February 18. That took their position to 353,533 contracts. Commercials added another 22,352 contracts to their net short, at 638,930 contracts.
The Friday morning Export Sales report indicated 1.454 MMT of corn sold during the week that ended on February 13, down 11.8% from the week prior but still 77.2% larger than the same week in 2024. Mexico was the main buyer of 546,800 MT, with 457,400 MT sold to Japan and 185,500 MT to Spain. Total export commitments are now 47.87 MMT, up 29% from last year. That is 77% of USDA’s export projection, 3 percentage points ahead of the average pace.
USDA will release their initial outlook for the 2025 corn crop in their February Outlook Forum next week. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg estimate USDA to show 93.5 million planted corn acres, with all expecting an increase from last year’s 90.6 million acres (92-95.1 million acres).
Mar 25 Corn closed at $4.91 1/4, down 6 3/4 cents,
Nearby Cash was $4.59 1/2, down 6 3/4 cents,
May 25 Corn closed at $5.05, down 7 3/4 cents,
Dec 25 Corn closed at $4.75, down 4 1/2 cents,
New Crop Cash was $4.43 1/4, down 4 3/4 cents,
On the date of publication, Austin Schroeder did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.