Corn futures saw a slight recovery on Wednesday, with contracts up 1 to 2 ¼ cents at the close. EIA reported a robust ethanol figure to give the bulls some steam. The CmdtyView national average Cash Corn price was up 2 1/2 cents at $3.85.
EIA data from this morning showed ethanol production exploding 98,000 barrels per day week/week or 8.92% to a record (5.75% above the previous record) 1.196 million barrels per day. Ethanol stocks did seen a build of 821,000 barrels to 24.473 million barrels, mainly in the Gulf (+423,000 barrels) and the East Coast (+616,000 barrels), possibly gearing up for exports. Exports were up 6,000 bpd to 119,000 bpd, as refiner inputs for ethanol were 70,000 bpd higher to 841,000 bpd.
Several South Korean importers had tenders overnight, purchasing a total of 402,000 MT of corn. USDA confirmed some of that was from the US, with a private export sale announcement of 136,000 MT to South Korea.
USDA Export Sales data will be released on Thursday morning, with traders looking for 0.6 to 1.4 MMT of corn sold in the week of January 8.
The Rosario Grains Exchange estimates the Argentina corn crop at 62 MMT, a 1 MMT increase from their previous estimate.
Mar 26 Corn closed at $4.22, up 2 1/4 cents,
Nearby Cash was $3.84, up 2 1/2 cents,
May 26 Corn closed at $4.29 3/4, up 2 cents,
Jul 26 Corn closed at $4.36, up 1 1/2 cents,
