Corn prices are up 2 to 3 cents on Thursday AM trade. Futures gave back some of the Tuesday gains, with contracts down 3 to 4 cents on Wednesday, as soon to expire December was down 6 cents. Open interest was up 12,138 contracts on Wednesday. There was another 22 deliveries issued against December corn overnight. The CmdtyView national average Cash Corn price was down 3 1/2 cents at $3.99. 

EIA data showed a total of 1.105 million barrels per day of ethanol production in the US during the week ending on December 5, down 21,000 bpd from the week prior’s record. Ethanol stocks pulled back just 1,000 barrels to 22.51 million barrels in that week. Refiner inputs of ethanol were down 6,000 bpd to 851,000 bpd, with exports dropping 45,000 bpd to 125,000 bpd.

NASS released their backed up Grain Crushings report on Wednesday afternoon, showing September corn grind at 435.36 million bushels, down 2.66% from last year. October corn grind was also released, with 476.4 mbu of corn usage, up 2.76% vs. last year. In the first two months of the marketing year, corn used for ethanol was up 1 million bushel from last year.

Export Sales data will get another backlogged update on Thursday morning, with traders looking for 0.8-2 MMT in corn sales during the week of 11/13.

Another CFTC release on Wednesday from the week of November 10 showed corn speculators trimming another 31,993 contracts from their net short position, taking it to 39,523 contracts.

A Taiwan importers purchased 65,000 MT of US corn in a tender overnight. CONAB released updated data this morning, showing Brazilian corn production at 138.88 MMT, up 0.04 MMT from their previous number.

Dec 25 Corn  closed at $4.34 3/4, down 6 cents, currently up 5 1/4 cents

Nearby Cash  was $3.99, down 3 1/2 cents,

Mar 26 Corn  closed at $4.44 1/4, down 3 3/4 cents, currently up 2 3/4 cents

May 26 Corn  closed at $4.51 3/4, down 3 3/4 cents, currently up 2 1/2 cents

More news from Barchart

• Corn: Is the Tepid Rally Bearish?
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• Corn and Soybean Rallies Just Gave Winter Wheat and Soybean Meal a Kick. What Comes Next?