Corn futures were up 1 to 4 cents across the front months on Friday, as March was down 4 ¼ cents this week. Spillover support from gains in wheat was helping. The CmdtyView national average Cash Corn price was up 1 3/4 cent to $3.94 1/4. With just a week left in the Crop Insurance price discovery, the average December corn close has been $4.60, down a dime from the same period last year.
Export Sales data continues to show strong export sales, with old crop corn sales at 1.47 MMT in the week of 2/12. That was down from last week, but still 1.1% above the same week last year. New crop sales were at 65,700 MT in that week. Japan was the top buyer of 381,500 MT, with 270,100 MT sold to Mexico and 127,300 MT sold to Taiwan.
Commitment of Traders data from this afternoon showed a total of 20,795 contracts trimmed from the spec fund net long position in the week of February 17. That took the net short to 27,415 contracts.
A South Korean importer purchased a total of 132,000 MT in a tender overnight.
Mar 26 Corn closed at $4.27 1/2, up 1 3/4 cents,
Nearby Cash was $3.94 1/4, up 1 3/4 cents,
May 26 Corn closed at $4.39 3/4, up 3 1/2 cents,
Jul 26 Corn closed at $4.48 1/4, up 3 3/4 cents,
