Corn futures ended Wednesday’s session higher, extending a late-week lift into the close. Trading gains ranged from 5 1/4 to 7 1/4 cents across key contracts, as investors weighed USDA export sales activity alongside weekly ethanol data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
With Friday off for Juneteenth, Thursday is set to mark the final trading day of the week for the agriculture complex.
Key takeaways
- Price move: July 26 corn closed higher at $4.21, up 7 1/4 cents, while cash corn was up 6 3/4 cents to $3.90.
- Catalyst: The market reacted to USDA Export Sales figures and weekly ethanol supply-demand updates from the EIA.
- Demand signals: Export sales for 2025/26 corn totaled 0.7–1.4 MMT in the week ending June 11, with new-crop sales forecast between 0.4–1.2 MMT in a Reuters survey of traders.
- Biofuel context: Ethanol production eased to 1.102 million barrels per day, while ethanol stocks and exports both posted week-over-week declines.
What drove the move
Weekly USDA Export Sales data pointed to ongoing international demand for corn. The report showed 0.7–1.4 MMT of 2025/26 corn sold for the week ending June 11. For the new crop, traders in a Reuters survey expected business in a range of 0.4–1.2 MMT.
On the biofuels side, the EIA’s weekly update showed ethanol production at 1.102 million barrels per day for the week of June 12, down 6,000 barrels per day from the prior week. Ethanol stocks were also higher than the week before by a small margin, rising by 22,000 barrels to 24.474 million barrels. However, the report also indicated ethanol exports fell by 27,000 barrels per day to 128,000 barrels per day.
Refiner activity remained active, with refiner inputs increasing by 13,000 barrels per day to 920,000 barrels per day. That combination—lower production and exports alongside stronger inputs—suggests refiners continued to draw on supply even as export volumes weakened.
Market reaction into the close
By the Wednesday settlement, the strength was spread across multiple maturities:
- July 26 corn closed at $4.21, up 7 1/4 cents.
- Nearby cash corn was $3.90 1/1, up 6 3/4 cents.
- September 26 corn settled at $4.29 1/2, up 7 cents.
- December 26 corn closed at $4.48 3/4, up 6 1/4 cents.
- New-crop cash was $4.03 1/8, up 5 1/4 cents.
The broad gain across nearby and deferred contracts indicates buyers were not focused on a single delivery month. Instead, the market appeared to balance supportive export sales data against a softer ethanol export picture and modest shifts in production and stocks.
What to watch next
With Friday’s session canceled for Juneteenth, investors will look to Thursday’s price action to gauge whether demand signals and ethanol fundamentals continue to support the upward momentum. Next on the calendar are the next USDA updates and additional weekly energy and supply-chain data that could further clarify corn’s demand outlook for both export and biofuel channels.
