To start the week corn opened the overnight session higher but faded to post losses by the end of the night session. Early support was due to technical buying as corn has traded to a 48-day low. Reports Mexico was in and bought 114 TMT of US corn overnight added support. Tariff concerns pressured corn late in the session as it appears that Trump is going to go forward with placing 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada. As of Feb 28, Brazil was reporting corn harvest at 39% complete vs 34% last week and vs 39% average. Second crop corn planting progress was estimated at 70% complete vs 54% last week and 54% average.
Corn opened Tuesday’s session lower and extended session losses throughout the night and accelerated the selling pressure once the day session started. Heavy fund selling tied to worries about tariffs continues to dominate the news. The US followed through and put 25% tariffs on both Mexico and Canada along with an additional 10% on China. Like wheat, corn is extremely oversold and in need of a technical correction but unlike wheat, corn has not given back all of their winter gains. But corn has closed lower in 8 of the last 9 sessions losing roughly 69 cents of its 97 cent gain.
China responded immediately with retaliatory tariffs, placing a 15% tariff on corn imports. That means little as China has not been much of a buyer of US corn this year and has no unshipped bushels of corn. Mexico is the largest importer of US corn and tariffs on them do matter. Mexico is taking a bit more of a methodical look at the tariff situation and will come with their retaliatory response Sunday. Mexico has 7.5 MMT (295 MB) of unshipped US corn on the books. Corn shipments remain strong as 14 of the last 15 weeks corn shipments have remained above 1 MMT. The true test of corn demand will be going forward and we will see if countries were indeed front loading or were they buying because of need. Mexico bought corn Monday so we will see if it gets cancelled or shipped.
In Wednesday’s session corn gapped higher at the start of the overnight session and held most of the gains overnight. The market turned lower early in the day session but was able to bounce back and close with gains. The market moved with tariff updates but expectations for higher planted acres this spring limited gains.
On Thursday corn opened the session higher and extended gains throughout the night and into the day. Early support came from technical buying as traders try to correct an oversold market condition. Bargain hunting added support as corn faded over 75% of the past 6-month gains. Another strong export sales estimated at support. News that the 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada are being delayed until April added strength late in the session.
Early estimates for USDA’s March Crop Production report have corn stocks at 1.516 BB vs 1.54 BB last month. World corn stocks are estimated at 289.3 MMT vs 290.3 MMT last month.
Target $5.15 to advance sales.
For the week, May corn was at $4.6925 down 0.25 cent. July corn was unchanged at $4.7575.
Corn Weekly Comments March 7
Corn Weekly Comments March 7
To start the week corn opened the overnight session higher but faded to post losses by the end of the night session. Early support was due to technical buying as corn has traded to a 48-day low. Reports Mexico was in and bought 114 TMT of US corn overnight added support. Tariff concerns pressured corn late in the session as it appears that Trump is going to go forward with placing 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada. As of Feb 28, Brazil was reporting corn harvest at 39% complete vs 34% last week and vs 39% average. Second crop corn planting progress was estimated at 70% complete vs 54% last week and 54% average.
Corn opened Tuesday’s session lower and extended session losses throughout the night and accelerated the selling pressure once the day session started. Heavy fund selling tied to worries about tariffs continues to dominate the news. The US followed through and put 25% tariffs on both Mexico and Canada along with an additional 10% on China. Like wheat, corn is extremely oversold and in need of a technical correction but unlike wheat, corn has not given back all of their winter gains. But corn has closed lower in 8 of the last 9 sessions losing roughly 69 cents of its 97 cent gain.
China responded immediately with retaliatory tariffs, placing a 15% tariff on corn imports. That means little as China has not been much of a buyer of US corn this year and has no unshipped bushels of corn. Mexico is the largest importer of US corn and tariffs on them do matter. Mexico is taking a bit more of a methodical look at the tariff situation and will come with their retaliatory response Sunday. Mexico has 7.5 MMT (295 MB) of unshipped US corn on the books. Corn shipments remain strong as 14 of the last 15 weeks corn shipments have remained above 1 MMT. The true test of corn demand will be going forward and we will see if countries were indeed front loading or were they buying because of need. Mexico bought corn Monday so we will see if it gets cancelled or shipped.
In Wednesday’s session corn gapped higher at the start of the overnight session and held most of the gains overnight. The market turned lower early in the day session but was able to bounce back and close with gains. The market moved with tariff updates but expectations for higher planted acres this spring limited gains.
On Thursday corn opened the session higher and extended gains throughout the night and into the day. Early support came from technical buying as traders try to correct an oversold market condition. Bargain hunting added support as corn faded over 75% of the past 6-month gains. Another strong export sales estimated at support. News that the 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada are being delayed until April added strength late in the session.
Early estimates for USDA’s March Crop Production report have corn stocks at 1.516 BB vs 1.54 BB last month. World corn stocks are estimated at 289.3 MMT vs 290.3 MMT last month.
Target $5.15 to advance sales.
For the week, May corn was at $4.6925 down 0.25 cent. July corn was unchanged at $4.7575.