In the first session of last week, corn futures operated both in the negative and positive fields, but closed the day slightly lower. On Monday, September/21 declined by 0.75 cents/bushel. Just like as at the end of the previous week, corn quotes were driven by uncertainties regarding changes in the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) blending mandate and weather issues in the country’s corn belt.
On the day, the USDA released the US weekly export inspections report. The country shipped 724,800 tonnes in the week ending August 19, against 781,500 million tonnes in the previous one. As such, exports accumulated in the 2020/21 crop (Sept/20 to Aug/21) totaled 65.1 million, compared with 41.5 million in the same period of the previous season.
Weekly Intraday - September/21 (CME)
Source: CME. Design: StoneX.
Corn quotes - CBOT (cents/bushel)
Source: CME. Design: StoneX.
On Tuesday (24), contracts rallied again in Chicago, with September/21 gaining 6.5 cents/bushel, receiving support from worsening conditions for the US crop, brought in by the USDA report on the previous day.
On Wednesday (25), futures rose again on the CBOT, with the nearby contract up 6.75 cents/bushel in the daily comparison.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported on the day that US ethanol production dropped to 933 million barrels per day (mbpd) in the week ended on August 20, a weekly decline of 40 mpd. Stocks also dropped by around 335,000 barrels, to 21.22 million.
Weather forecasts for the US Midwest continue to show a beneficial amount of rain for the next 10 days. The corn crop is in its final development phase, so the rains should benefit production in a marginal way or just stabilize the crops in the drier regions.
On Thursday (26), the corn market had a mixed day in Chicago, with September/21 gaining 1.5 cent/bushel, while backmonth contracts dropped lower. Longer-term contracts were pressured by weather data, but received support from good export data for the 2021/22 crop.
US 2021/22 weekly export sales
Source: USDA. Design: StoneX.
The USDA reported that net sales of the 2020/21 crop in the week ending August 19 totaled 6,600 tonnes, compared to 216,500 tonnes in the previous week. As such, commitments for the 2020/21 crop to all destinations of US corn totaled 70.3 million tonnes, compared to the 44.5 million tonnes in the same period of 2020. In relation to the 2021/22 season, net sales totaled 684,000 tonnes, compared to 510,000 in the previous week.
On Friday (27), corn had a rise in Chicago, with September/21 gaining 5.5 cents/bushel and closing the week quoted at 558 cents/bushel. With this, the contract in question accumulated a rise of 19.25 cents/bushel in relation to the end of the previous week, or 3.6%.
SPOT PRICES (USD/60kg bag)
Source: StoneX, Aroglink e IMEA. Design: StoneX.
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