Corn futures posted gains of 1 ¼ to 5 ½ cents across the board on Friday, with May rallying 13 ¼ cents on the week. December was 14 ½ cents higher this week. The CmdtyView national average Cash Corn price was 7 cents higher on the day to $4.39 ¾.
USDA reported a private export sale of 148,240 MT of corn to unknown destination this morning, with 78,240 MT for old crop and 70,000MT for new crop.
Monthly Grain Crush data from NASS showed 474.4 million bushels of corn used in ethanol production in March. That was a 10.2% increase from February and 4.76% larger than last year. Marketing year corn grind has totaled 3.225 billion bushels, now 20 mbu above last year in the same period.
Weekly CFTC data showed managed money adding 79,697 contracts to their net long position in corn futures and options in the week of April 28. That took their net long back to 264,103 contracts. Producer selling was active with commercials adding 89,919 contracts their net short at 554,336 contracts.
Export Sales data has corn export commitments totaling 75.7 MMT as of April 23, a 29% increase from the same time last year. That is 90% of USDA’s export projection and behind the 93% average.
May 26 Corn closed at $4.68 1/4, up 3 1/2 cents,
Nearby Cash was $4.39 3/4, up 7 cents,
Jul 26 Corn closed at $4.80 1/4, up 5 1/2 cents,
Dec 26 Corn closed at $4.98 3/4, up 4 1/2 cents,
New Crop Cash was $4.55 1/1, up 3 3/4 cents,
