Corn Futures Hold Steady After Private Export Sale to Mexico

Corn futures closed steady to fractionally higher on Friday, mirroring little change in the CmdtyView national average Cash Corn price at $4.09 1/2. The USDA reported a private export sale of 286,097 MT of corn to Mexico, with 29,808 MT allocated for the 2026/27 crop year and 256,289 MT for 2027/28.

Ahead of next Wednesday's August Crop Production report from NASS, analysts surveyed by Reuters expect a yield of 182.4 bushels per acre, with a range of 180.5 to 184.8 bpa. Harvested acres are expected to be trimmed by 76,000 acres, resulting in an estimated production of 15.934 bbu.

The CFTC data revealed that managed money added just 13,547 contracts to their net long in corn futures and options in the week ending August 4. The net long was at 181,946 contracts as of Tuesday. Meanwhile, old crop corn commitments stood at 87.09 MMT, 23% ahead of the same period last year.