Corn Commentary
Sept Corn closes 2 cents lower ($3.50 ½), Dec 2 ¼ cents lower ($3.64 ¼) and March 2 cents lower ($3.76 ¼)
Sept Chgo Ethanol closes 0.021 cents a gallon lower ($1.510), Oct 0.019 cents lower ($1.489)
Weekly Corn Export Sales – 62.5 K T. old crop vs. 0-200 K T. expected – 671.8 K T. new crop vs. 400-700 K T. expected
Are you familiar with the phrase “dead in the water”? That’s what the corn market looks like after it registered an inside day of Wednesday. The “however’ is that it did register a new low close for the current down move. New crop weekly export sales were okay based on expectations. It should be noted that new crop sales trail last year’s pace by 4.4 M T. In that same vein Brazil talks about where to store this past year’s crop as space down there has a huge corn crop competing with a huge soybean crop. In other words potential importers have the luxury of shopping around for their needs. Going forward I believe the flat price will continue to honor last September’s lows at least until we hear from the Pro Farmer crop tour later next week. Many in the trade are anxious to hear whether or not they will confirm or deny the yield (169.5 bpa) the USDA touted last week.
Interior cash corn markets continue to show a steady to higher bias. Some will talk about better demand surfacing; others will suggest it’s all about nonexistent farmer selling. Spreads ran mixed to easier on the day.
Flat price is honoring what I call last ditch support; last September’s lows basis the Dec contract. The price action remains lacking as it it appears it is accepting these low levels vs. rejecting them. I would expect to see another slow boring day on Friday into Monday.
Daily Support & Resistance for 08/18
Sept Corn: $3.48 – $3.57
Dec Corn: $3.62 – $3.71
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