Corn Prices Slide Following USDA Yield Cut
Corn futures are trading lower on Friday, down by 2 to 3 cents in midday losses. The national average cash corn price has dropped 2.5 cents to $4.85.50. This decline follows a USDA report released earlier today, which showed US corn yield down 2.2 bpa to 178.5 bpa, matching trade estimates.
The monthly Crop Production report from NASS also revealed that production was down 213 million bushels (mbu) from August at 15.8 billion bushels (bbu), with harvested acres trimmed by 87,000 acres to 85.506 million acres. Via the WASDE, old crop ending stocks were down 23 mbu to 1.922 bbu as exports increased by 25 mbu and imports added 2 mbu. New crop carryout was cut by 86 mbu due to the production adjustment and carryover.
The USDA also reported a private export sale of 264,000 metric tons (MT) this morning, all to Mexico for 2026/27 shipment. Export Sales data showed that 79,788 MT of 2025/26 sales were made in the week of 9/3, exceeding trade ideas looking for net cancellations of 600,000 MT to net sales of 50,000 on old crop corn sales.