Corn Pulling Higher at Midday
Corn futures are trading 1 to 2 ½ cents higher so far at midday. There were 3 delivery notices overnight against May futures. The oldest long is dated 10/27/23, when May futures were trading $5.00-5.05. They’re either “pure” hedgers with a big paper loss or they had options positions cushioning the futures.
EIA data from this morning showed a 33,000 barrel per day bump in ethanol production during the week that ended on April 26 to 987,000 bpd. Despite the increase in output, stocks saw a draw of 245,000 barrels to 25.488 million barrels. Blender inputs of ethanol were at a 28-week high of 911,000 barrels per day.
Estimates ahead of the Export Sales report on Thursday are for old crop sales of 650,000 MT to 1.3 MMT in the week that ended on 4/25. Bookings for new crop are up to 300,000 MT in that week.
On Tuesday, the Biden administration released its guidance on SAF feedstock, allowing corn based ethanol to qualify only if producers use practices such as no-till, cover cropping, and efficient fertilizer application. The cover crop requirement in particular will limit eligibility as some areas just don’t have a long enough growing season.
May 24 Corn is at $4.41, up 1 1/2 cents,
Nearby Cash is at $4.27 3/8, up 3/8 cent,
Jul 24 Corn is at $4.49 1/4, up 2 1/2 cents,
Dec 24 Corn is at $4.71 1/4, up 1 3/4 cents,
New Crop Cash is at $4.35, down 1 5/8 cents,
On the date of publication, Alan Brugler 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.
