Corn prices are up ½ to 1 ¼ cents so far on Tuesday morning trade. Futures were in rally mode on Monday, as contracts closed 14 ½ to 21 ¼ cents higher across most 26/27 contracts. Open interest suggested some modest short covering, down 12,278 contracts on Monday, mainly in the 2026 contracts. The CmdtyView national average Cash Corn price was back up 21 1/4 cents to $4.37 1/2. Much of the buying was due to a White House fact sheet on the US/China talks from last week, in part stating that China will purchase at least $17 billion per year of U.S. agricultural products for the next three years in addition to the previous soybean commitments.

NASS Crop Progress data showed the US corn crop at 76% planted as of Sunday, which was 6% ahead of the 5-year average pace of 70%. The crop was also 39% emerged, which is 2 percentage points faster than normal. 

Monday morning’s Export Inspections report showed 1.379 MMT (54.28 mbu) of corn shipped in the week of 5/14. That was 19.07% below last week and 21.68% shy of the same week last year. Japan was the largest destination of 440,975 MT, with 377,217 MT shipped to Mexico and 84,814 MT to Taiwan. The marketing year total is now 58.57 MMT (2.306 bbu) of corn shipped since September 1, which is 28.5% above the same period last year.

A couple South Korean importers purchased a total of 135,000 MT of corn in separate tenders overnight. 

Jul 26 Corn  closed at $4.77, up 21 1/4 cents, currently up 1 1/4 cents

Nearby Cash  was $4.37 1/2, up 21 1/4 cents,

Sep 26 Corn  closed at $4.82 1/4, up 19 1/4 cents, currently up 1 cent

Dec 26 Corn  closed at $4.98, up 17 cents, currently up 1/2 cent

New Crop Cash  was $4.51 3/8, up 18 3/4 cents,