Corn futures rose ahead of the USDA report, finishing Thursday up 5‑7 cents across the board. The CmdtyView national cash price advanced 6 cents to $4.87.
The Energy Information Administration reported ethanol production at 1.099 million barrels per day for the week ending Sept. 4, down 11,000 bpd from the prior week. Inventories increased by 152,000 barrels to 25.187 million barrels, now 10.29 % above the year‑ago level.
The USDA is set to publish its weekly Export Sales report on Friday. Traders anticipate a net cancellation of about 600,000 metric tons, offset by modest net sales of roughly 50,000 tons of old‑crop corn in the final days of the marketing year. New‑crop sales for the week ending Sept. 3 are expected to range from 1.0 to 1.9 million metric tons.
A Bloomberg survey of market participants forecasts that the USDA will lower its yield estimate on Friday by an average of 2.6 bushels per acre, to an average of 178.1 bpa. Production is projected to decline by 236 million bushels month‑over‑month to 15.777 billion bushels. Ending stocks for old‑crop corn are expected to fall only slightly, by 7 million bushels, to 1.938 billion bushels, while new‑crop ending stocks are seen dropping 142 million bushels to 1.511 billion bushels.
September‑2025 corn settled at $5.14, up 6.25 cents. The nearby cash price was $4.87, up 6 cents. December‑2025 corn closed at $5.3375, up 6 cents. March‑2026 corn finished at $5.4925, up 6 cents.