Corn futures declined on Wednesday after the USDA released its quarterly stocks report, showing larger-than-expected grain reserves. Front-month contracts dropped between 18½ and 21¼ cents, while 2027 crop contracts fell by as much as 9¼ cents. The CmdtyView national average cash corn price decreased by 20¾ cents to $4.58 per bushel.
The quarterly Grain Stocks report from the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NRESS) revealed that U.S. corn stocks as of September 1 totaled 2.095 billion bushels. This figure exceeded market expectations, rising significantly from 1.551 billion bushels recorded the previous year. The current stocks were also 173 million bushels above the USDA’s WASDE estimate for 2025/26 U.S. corn ending stocks and 184 million bushels above pre-report trade estimates.
Morning data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) indicated that ethanol production for the week ending September 25 averaged 1.0007 million barrels per day, representing a seasonal decline of 21,000 barrels per day compared to the prior week. Ethanol inventories experienced another seasonal reduction, dropping by 818,000 barrels to reach 23.865 million barrels.
Monday’s Export Sales data is anticipated for release on Thursday, with market participants projecting U.S. corn export bookings for the 2026/27 marketing year week ending September 24 to range between 0.5 and 1.3 million metric tons (MMT).
- December 2026 Corn closed at $5.00¾, down 21¼ cents
- Nearby Cash was $4.58¼, down 20¾ cents
- March 2027 Corn closed at $5.15½, down 20½ cents
- May 2027 Corn closed at $5.23¼, down 19¾ cents
