Corn Prices Soften on Tuesday Amid US Crop Progress and Export Decline
Corn prices started Tuesday morning slightly lower than their early highs on Monday. Despite this initial drop, futures still showed gains of 3 to 7.75 cents across most contracts at the end of the previous session.
The Open Interest increased by 4,744 contracts, while September's contracts dropped by 40,500. The national average Cash Corn price was $4.63, a gain of 7.75 cents from the previous day's prices.
According to the Weekly Crop Progress data, 86% of the US corn crop had reached the dough stage as of August 23rd. However, condition ratings dropped by 3%, with only 57% of the crop in good to excellent condition. The Brugler500 index was also down 5 points to 348.
The Export Inspections report for Monday showed corn shipments at 1.296 MMT (51.03 mbu) in the week ending August 20th, a decline of 33.32% from the previous week and 3.16% below the same period last year. Mexico was the largest destination for corn exports, followed by Japan and Colombia.
Agrural estimates that as of Thursday, 92% of the second corn crop for 2025/26 had been harvested, still lagging behind the average pace. The first corn crop for 2026/27 was estimated to be only 2% planted, falling short of last year's 3.2% planting rate.