Corn Prices Decline Amid Lower Yield and Production Estimates
Corn prices declined on Friday as the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its monthly Crop Production report, showing a lower-than-expected corn yield. The USDA reported that US corn yield decreased by 2.2 bushels per acre to 178.5 bpa, in line with trade estimates. This led to a decrease in production of 213 million bushels from August's estimate, as harvested acres were trimmed by 87,000 to 85.506 million.
The USDA also reported that old crop ending stocks were down 23 million bushels to 1.922 billion, due to increased exports and imports. New crop carryout was cut by 86 million bushels on the production adjustment and carryover. Additionally, feed and residual usage was adjusted lower by 150 million bushels.
The global corn market also saw changes, with world ending stocks increasing by 2.55 million metric tons to 301.38 million for 2025/26, due to higher Brazilian production. New crop world carryout decreased by 2.55 million metric tons to 272.10 million.
In export sales data, a total of 79,788 metric tons of corn were sold in the week ending September 3, with new crop sales totaling 1.929 million metric tons. Unshipped sales from the previous year totaled 993,349 metric tons. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) reported that managed money trimmed back its net long position in corn futures and options by 5,891 contracts.