Corn futures experienced a mixed trading day on Thursday, with near-term contracts edging higher while the December contract dipped slightly. Front-month contracts saw gains of 2 to 3 ¼ cents. The new crop December contract, however, closed down ¾ cent. According to CmdtyView, the national average cash corn price rose 3 3/4 cents to $4.60 3/4.
The market reacted to the latest Export Sales data, which revealed strong demand for U.S. corn. For the week ending February 6th, sales totaled 1.649 million metric tons (MMT) for the 2024/25 marketing year. This represents an 11.6% increase from the previous week and the highest volume in three weeks. Japan led the buying activity with 459,400 MT, followed by Mexico (325,400 MT) and Colombia (262,600 MT). New crop sales reached 350,096 MMT, falling within the anticipated range of 0-500,000 MT, with a significant portion destined for Mexico.
Meanwhile, CONAB, Brazil’s national supply company, released updated production estimates, projecting a 2.5 MMT increase to their 2025 corn production forecast, now at 122.01 MMT. This contrasts with the USDA’s estimate of 126 MMT. The increase is attributed to both the second crop (up 1.4 MMT to 94.63 MMT) and the first crop (up 1.04 MMT to 22.53 MMT), driven by expanded acreage.
