Corn futures are 2 cents lower to 3 cents higher at midday on Friday,  led by new crop December. The corn market ended the Thursday session with contracts down 3 to 4 cents in the nearbys and up a penny in December. Preliminary open interest was up 6,510 contracts on Thursday, most coming in December. There were another 28 deliveries issued for May corn futures overnight, all stopped by an RJO customer. The nearby CmdtyView national average Cash Corn price was down ¾ at $4.41.

The weather forecast for next week shows spottier rain totals of around 1 inch in parts of MO, IL, and IN, with OH seeing some heavier totals. Areas south of that are expected to receive more. The WCB is looking drier, with much of NE, IA, WI, MN, and the Dakotas expected to receive little to no precipitation.

USDA Export Sales data on Thursday showed 1.014 MMT of 2024/25 corn sold in the week of April 24. That old crop number also took the total commitments for exports to 58.749 MMT, which is now 91% of the USDA WASDE full year forecast, trailing the 5-year average sales pace of 94% but ahead of the 86% from last year.  

The monthly Grain Crushing Report from NASS showed 454.197 million bushels of corn used for ethanol production in March. That was up 7.7% from the February figure but a 3.79% drop from last year. The marketing year corn used for ethanol is at 3.209 billion bushels, up ~18 mbu vs. the same time last year and the largest through March since 2017/18.

The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange estimates the Argentina corn crop at 31% harvested, a slow 1% progression on the week. Brokerage StoneX is projecting total Brazilian 2024/25 corn production at 132.4 MMT. 

May 25 Corn is at $4.64 1/4, unch,

Nearby Cash is at $4.41 1/1, down 3/4 cent,

Jul 25 Corn is at $4.71 1/4, down 1 cent,

Dec 25 Corn is at $4.50 3/4, up 3 1/2 cents,

New Crop Cash is at $4.09 1/4, up 2 3/4 cents,