February 3, 2012

 

US corn futures down to US$6.45 per bushel

 

 

As the USDA reported that US weekly corn exports fell 271,044 tonnes or 29%, to a month-low total of 669,620 tonnes for the week ending January 26, March corn futures on the Chicago Board of Trade were down US$0.06/bushel to US$6.35/bushel Thursday (Feb 2) morning.

 

This was the first week of losses for exports after four consecutive weeks of gains. Until the latest reported week, exports had been growing since the USDA reported weekly corn exports of 576,159 tonnes for the week ending December 29.

 

The top five weekly export destinations were Japan at 184,800 tonnes, Mexico at 143,400 tonnes, South Korea at 89,700 tonnes, Venezuela at 56,500 tonnes and Costa Rica at 39,900 tonnes.

 

Greater export demand generally supports the corn market, while weaker export demand usually depresses it.

 

Corn futures, however, were not expected by sources to affect ethanol prices, evidenced by Wednesday's slight drop of US$0.25/gallon in the Platts Chicago Argo ethanol assessment to US$2.14/gallon even as March corn futures on the Chicago Board of Trade settled up US$0.03/bushel to US$6.42/bushel.

 

US ethanol markets have been impacted more by a significant length in supply, as the Energy Information Administration, in a report released Wednesday, showed weekly ethanol inventories for the week ending January 27 at an all-time high of 20.9 million barrels.