The July corn contract traded on Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) The price of corn closed this Tuesday (19) with a slight decrease of 1.75 points and 0.37%, quoted at US$ cents 475.25/bushel. The September contract rose 0.75 points and 0.16%, to US$ cents 481.50/bushel. In this trading session, cereal prices were pressured by the technical movement of profit-taking, given the surge of more than 4% recorded the previous day (18). The fall in oil on the international market also weighed on prices, after the President of the United States, Donald Trump, suspended a planned attack against Iran to allow negotiations to end the war in the Middle East. The devaluation of fossil fuels reduces the competitiveness of US ethanol produced from corn. The weekly drop in corn inspections for export and the strengthening of the dollar abroad also had an impact. The DXY – an index that compares the strength of the US dollar against a basket of major global currencies – rose 0.45% near the close of trading in Chicago. The market remained focused on the progress of planting the new crop in the Corn Belt and the weather conditions for the region. Data collected up to Sunday (17) by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) shows that planting advanced 19 pp last week, reaching 76% of the projected 38.58 million hectares – a pace in line with that recorded at the same point in the previous cycle, but ahead of the multi-year average (70%). Furthermore, 39% of the area has already reached the emergence phase, compared to 47% in the previous season and 37% on average over the last five years. In its daily weather bulletin, the USDA indicated that unstable weather and rain are slowing down the final stages of corn and soybean planting, but at the same time maintaining predominantly favorable soil moisture reserves in the Midwest. On the radar are the slowdown in the 2025/26 corn harvest in Argentina – given the prioritization of soybean crops – and the final development of the second crop in Brazil, which accounts for more than 80% of Brazil's corn supply.
This text was translated by machine from Brazilian Portuguese.