Corn futures posted some strength off early lows on Thursday, as contracts were steady to a penny lower in most front months. A few deferreds closed fractionally higher. The CmdtyView national average Cash Corn price was down a penny on the day to $4.25 1/2.
Despite early talk of easing tensions this week, crude oil finished the day with $2.52 gains as reports of explosions were noted in Iran late in the day.
USDA’s Weekly Export Sales report from this morning showed 1.362 MMT of 2025/26 corn sold in the week ending on April 30. That was back down from last week and 18.1% below the same week last year. Taiwan was the top buyer of 301,600 MT, with 296,200 MT sold to Colombia and 281,900 MT to South Korea. New crop business was on the top end of the 0-150,000 MT estimates at 122,778 MT. Unknown destinations was the buyer of 70,000 MT, with Mexico purchasing 49,600 MT.
Brazil exported 473,875 MT of corn in April according to trade ministry data. That was well above the 178,347 MT from last year but down 51.79% from March. AgroConsult estimates the total Brazilian corn crop at 140.5 MMT, with the second crop at 112.1 MMT. The latter was down 2.4 MMT from their previous number.
A South Korean importer purchased 132,000 MT of corn overnight, all optional origin.
May 26 Corn closed at $4.52 3/4, unch,
Nearby Cash was $4.25 1/2, down 1 cent,
Jul 26 Corn closed at $4.67 1/2, down 1 cent,
Dec 26 Corn closed at $4.89 1/2, down 1/2 cent,
New Crop Cash was $4.43 1/4, down 2 3/4 cents,
