Corn futures surged at the Sunday night open and maintained substantial gains through midday trading, with contracts advancing 11 to 12.5 cents. The CmdtyView national average cash corn price climbed 12.5 cents to $4.675 per bushel.
Monday’s Export Inspections report revealed corn shipments of 1.296 million metric tons (51.03 million bushels) for the week ending August 20. This represents a 33.32% decline from the previous week and a 3.16% decrease compared to the same period last year. Mexico led destinations with 387,748 metric tons, followed by Japan at 306,842 metric tons and Colombia at 101,360 metric tons. Marketing year exports now total 82.28 million metric tons (3.239 billion bushels), running 25.51% ahead of last year’s pace with just over one week remaining in the marketing year.
Following last week’s Crop Tour, Pro Farmer projects a U.S. national yield of 173.2 bushels per acre, with total production estimated at 15.344 billion bushels.
Weekly CFTC data showed managed money speculators held a net long position of 250,505 contracts in corn futures and options as of August 18, an increase of 83,735 contracts from the prior week driven by a combination of new long positions and short covering.
In Brazil, Agrural estimates the 2025/26 second corn crop is 92% harvested as of Thursday, trailing the 98% five-year average. Planting for the 2026/27 first corn crop reached 2%, behind last year’s 3.2% pace.
Midday Price Summary:
- Sep 2026 Corn: $4.9625, up 12.5 cents
- Nearby Cash: $4.675, up 12.5 cents
- Dec 2026 Corn: $5.205, up 12 cents
- Mar 2027 Corn: $5.3525, up 11.75 cents
- New Crop Cash: $4.7125, up 12.5 cents
