Corn Holds Steady Ahead of Key USDA WASDE Report

Key Moments

Futures Trade Mixed After Prior Session Weakness

Corn futures opened Friday with a mixed tone. The July contract was up 1 3/4 cents, while other nearby months were trading fractionally lower. This followed a weaker Thursday session, when most contracts settled 2 to 4 1/4 cents lower and nearby July finished the day down 7 cents.

Open interest declined by 1,845 contracts on Thursday, with the reduction concentrated in front-month positions. Overnight, 12 deliveries were issued against the July contract. The CmdtyView national average cash corn price moved 3 1/4 cents lower to $4.01 3/4.

Export Sales Slow for Old Crop, Mixed Outlook for New Crop

USDA’s Export Sales report released Thursday morning showed old crop corn bookings of 565,810 MT for the week of 7/2. This was the second lowest weekly total of the current marketing year and represented a 55.2% decline from the same week a year earlier.

By destination, Mexico was the largest buyer with 168,900 MT, followed by Japan at 162,900 MT and Colombia at 149,800 MT. New crop corn sales for that week totaled 401,667 MT, down 44.8% from the corresponding week in 2025. South Korea accounted for 136,000 MT of those new crop sales, Japan purchased 112,000 MT, and Colombia booked 57,000 MT.

Accumulated new crop sales for the 2026/27 marketing year stood at 6.55 MMT, which was 20.8% higher than the same point a year earlier.

Market Braces for WASDE; EU and UK Production Trimmed

The monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report from USDA was scheduled for release later in the morning. A Bloomberg survey of analysts anticipated that old crop U.S. corn ending stocks would be reduced by 66 mbu to 2.079 bbu. New crop U.S. corn carryout was expected to be lowered by 61 mbu to 1.899 bu.

Separately, Coceral reduced its combined EU and UK corn production estimate by 4.5 MMT, bringing the total to 57.2 MMT.

Price Snapshot: Futures and Cash Markets

Disclosure

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.