Corn Commentary
Dec Corn closes ½ cent lower ($3.50 ½), March ¾ cent lower ($3.64 ½) and July ½ cent lower ($3.80 ½)
November Chgo Ethanol closes 0.007 cents a gallon lower ($1.389), Dec 0.006 higher ($1.398)
Weekly Corn Export Sales – 1.288 M T. old crop vs. 800 K – 1.200 M T. expected – 96.8 K T. new crop vs. none expected
Quietly easier best describes Thursday’s corn trade; just a 2 ½ cent range in the Dec. 2 ¾ cent range in the March. Weekly export sales were deemed solid vs. expectations. China announced corn import quotas for 2018; 7.2 M T. The USDA has them down for 3.0 M T. for the 2017-18 marketing year. Near term forecasts for US corn harvest should be for relatively clear sailing this weekend and most of next week. Dramatic looking strength in the US Dollar kept most US grain markets under wraps. Overall I thought the corn market put in a pretty decent performance given the weakness elsewhere within the AG sector.
Central Midwest processors still show the best corn basis out there. I show some minor improvement at selected river stations but elsewhere the interior corn basis sits at shades of ugly. The Gulf basis suggests little need for corn at this time. Corn spreads ran fractionally mixed on the day; Dec gains a ¼ cent on March while march loses fractionally to its forward contracts. Overall corn spreads remain wide.
What more can I say other than the trading range of the past 7 weeks lives on? Tomorrow should bring us another interesting test of the trading range given the clear weather for harvesting.
Daily Support & Resistance for 10/27
Dec Corn: $3.45 – $3.55
March Corn: $3.59 – $3.69
The risk of trading futures and options can be substantial. Each investor must consider whether this is a suitable investment. Past performance is not indicative of future results.