The July corn contract traded on Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) The futures contract closed this Thursday (7) with a slight decrease of 1.00 point and 0.21%, quoted at US$ cents 467.50/bushel. The September contract fell 0.75 point and 0.16%, to US$ cents 474.25/bushel. For the week, futures accumulated losses of 2.65% and 2.12%, respectively. In this trading session, cereal prices were again pressured by the devaluation of oil in the international market – a factor that reduces the competitiveness of North American ethanol produced from corn – and by the good pace of planting of the new North American crop in the Corn Belt. Survey carried out by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) As of Sunday (3), work has reached 38% of the projected area, a pace ahead of the average of the last five years (34%). In addition, 13% of the area has already reached the emergence phase, compared to 9% in the multi-year average. Earlier, USDA published the Drought Monitor, indicating that after a period of intense rainfall throughout the Midwest, drier conditions have spread across the region in the last 7 days. "The atypical cold reduced evapotranspiration rates, and the pause in precipitation was mostly welcome for field activities that were delayed by frequent storm systems. The impacts of drought and abnormal aridity have diminished in northern Minnesota and along the southern border of Indiana and Illinois," says the document. Last Tuesday (5), 25% of corn crops were in areas experiencing drought, the same sample observed in the previous week, but above the 20% observed in the same period last year. The USDA also reported that corn export sales for the 2025/26 marketing year totaled 1.361 million tons in the week ending April 30 – a volume 15% lower than the previous week and 4% lower than the average of the last four weeks. For delivery in 2026/27, net sales of 122,800 tons of corn were recorded during the period. On the radar are the final development of the winter crop in the Center-South of Brazil – which is expected to be plentiful, despite some isolated losses – and the progress of the harvest in Argentina.
This text was translated by machine from Brazilian Portuguese.