Corn is trading near unchanged on Thursday AM, with front months slightly higher. Futures fell to another round of weakness on Wednesday, with contracts closing 4 to 7 cents lower. Preliminary open interest was up 5,354 contracts on Wednesday, suggesting new selling. The CmdtyView national average Cash Corn price was down 6 cents on the day at $4.17. 

The weekly EIA report showed ethanol production (and thus corn use) dropping back 52,000 barrels per day in the week that ended on March 21 to 1.053 million bpd. Even with the output slowdown, stocks were back to building, up 775,000 barrels to 27.35 million barrels, mainly in the Midwest region. That came as exports were up 53,000 bpd to 164,000 bpd, with refiner ethanol inputs pulling back 18,000 bpd to 878,000 bpd. 

Export Sales data is expected to total between 0.6 and 1.6 MMT for old crop in the week that ended on March 20. Sales for 2025/26 are estimated in a range of 0-100,000 MT. 

Quarterly Grain Stocks data will be released on Monday, with the trade looking for 8.153 bbu of corn on hand as of March 1. That comes with a range of estimates of 8.06 to 8.311 bbu according to the Bloomberg survey.

A South Korean importer purchased a total of 204,000 MT of corn in a tender overnight. 

May 25 Corn  closed at $4.51 1/4, down 6 1/2 cents, currently up 1 cent

Nearby Cash  was $4.17, down 6 cents,

Jul 25 Corn  closed at $4.59, down 6 1/4 cents, currently up 1/4 cent

Dec 25 Corn  closed at $4.44 1/2, down 4 1/2 cents, currently down 1 1/4 cents

New Crop Cash  was $4.08 1/2, down 4 1/4 cents,