Corn futures closed the Friday session with gains of 6 to 8 cents in the front months as bears let off the gas into the weekend ahead of Monday’s USDA reports. July was down 11 ¼ cents this week, with December losing 14 ¼ cents. The front month CmdtyView national average Cash Corn price was up 8 cents at $3.94.
Ahead of the USDA Grain Stocks report, analysts estimate a total of 4.625 billion bushels of corn in stocks on June 1. That would be down 372 mbu from the year prior if realized. The range of estimates is at 4.459 to 4.798 bbu. Monday’s Acreage report is expected to show 95.4 million acres for corn according to a Bloomberg survey, up ~200,000 acres from March.
The weekly CFTC Commitment of Traders report indicated large managed money spec traders in corn futures and options trimmed back 2,506 contracts from their large net short position. As of Tuesday, they held a net short of 182,282 contracts.
Export Sales data has total commitments at 67.574 MMT, which is 99% of USDA’s full year projection and slightly behind the 100% average sales pace.
Statistics Canada data from this morning showed estimated Canadian corn acreage at 3.732 million acres, up 2.2% from a year ago.
Jul 25 Corn closed at $4.17 1/2, up 8 cents,
Nearby Cash was $3.94, up 8 cents,
Sep 25 Corn closed at $4.11 1/2, up 7 1/2 cents,
Dec 25 Corn closed at $4.27, up 6 cents,
New Crop Cash was $3.84 3/8, up 6 1/4 cents,
