Corn Fading Lower Ahead of the Three Day Weekend

Corn price action is down 1 to 2 cents so far on Friday morning. Futures closed the Thursday session with contracts mixed, as front months were down 1 ½ to 3 ½ cents and deferreds fractionally higher. Most 2026/27 contracts were 12 to 15 cents off their overnight lows. Open interest was up 15,492 contracts on Thursday. There was just 1 delivery for September corn futures overnight. The market will be closed on Monday for Labor Day. The CmdtyView national average Cash Corn price was down 3 1/4 cents at $4.94 1/2.

USDA released Export Sales data on Thursday morning with old crop seen at net cancellations of 829,569 MT for 2025/26 corn. That was a marketing year low. There were 721,400 MT in cancellations for unknown (most likely switched to a destination), with Japan cancelling 360,500 MT. New crop 2026/27 bookings during the week ending on August 27 totaled at 1.986 MMT. That was a marketing year high but 6.2% below the same week last year. Mexico was the buyer of 665,000 MT, with 371,800 MT sold to Japan, and 353,300 MT to unknown destinations.

Census data was released on Thursday morning, showing 7.48 MMT (294.4 mbu) of corn shipped in July, a record for the month. That was a 22.63% increase from last year but a 5.65% drop from June. Distillers exports were 1.1 MMT, up 3.84% from last year. Ethanol shipments in July totaled 199.5 million gallons, which was a record for the month. 

Sep 26 Corn  closed at $5.15 1/4, down 3 1/2 cents, currently up ¾ cent

Nearby Cash  was $4.94 1/2, down 3 1/4 cents,

Dec 26 Corn  closed at $5.40 3/4, down 2 3/4 cents, currently down 1 cent

Mar 27 Corn  closed at $5.56, down 2 1/4 cents, currently down 1 1/4 cents

On the date of publication, Austin Schroeder did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.