Corn futures closed out the Friday session with most contracts steady to 3 ¾ cents higher. That was led by December, which cut down the weekly loss to just ¾ cent. The national average Cash Corn price from cmdtyView was up 6 1/2 cents at $3.85 3/4 per bu. 

The monthly Grain Crushing report from NASS was released this afternoon, showing 440.16 mbu of corn used for ethanol production during September. That was up 2.74% from last year and a 6-year high but down 8.2% from August. 

CFTC data from this afternoon showed spec funds in corn futures and options cutting 53,796 contracts from their net short position as of October 29. That took the net position to just -17,703 contracts, which is the smallest since August 2023. Commercials were busy adding 62,578 contracts to their net short, at 218,155 contracts by Tuesday. Much of that was additional shorts (798,161 contracts), now at the largest total in over 18 months.

USDA reported a private export sale of 781,322 MT of corn to Mexico, with 715,800 MT for 2024/25 shipment and 65,532 MT for 2025/26 this morning. Export Sales data (not including the aforementioned daily sales) shows total export commitments for corn at 25.82 MMT, a 3-year high for the current week and up 41% from last year. That is also 44% of the USDA export forecast, which is faster paced than the 40% average sales pace. Shipping pace in the first nearly 2 months of the marketing year are at 11% of USDA’s projected total, 2 percentage points ahead of the average.  

StoneX estimates the Brazilian 2024/25 corn crop at 128.53 MMT, with the first crop at 24.88 MMT and the second crop at 101.5 MMT. 

Dec 24 Corn  closed at $4.14 1/2, up 3 3/4 cents,

Nearby Cash  was $3.85 3/4, up 6 1/2 cents,

Mar 25 Corn  closed at $4.29 1/4, up 3 1/4 cents,

May 25 Corn  closed at $4.37 1/4, up 2 3/4 cents,