The July corn contract traded on Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) The futures contract closed this Friday (29) with a sharp drop of 9.00 points and 1.97%, quoted at US$ cents 446.75/bushel; the September contract fell 8.50 points and 1.83%, to US$ cents 455.75/bushel. For the week, futures accumulated losses of 3.56% and 2.98%; in the month of May, of 5.90% and 5.00%, respectively. In this trading session, cereal prices were pressured by the sharp drop in oil on the international market, a factor that reduces the competitiveness of US ethanol produced from corn, and by the slowdown in international demand. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released this morning that net sales of corn for export in the 2025/26 marketing year totaled 1.015 million tons in the week ending May 21, a volume 52% lower compared to the previous week and 30% below the average of the last four weeks. For delivery in the 2026/27 marketing year, net sales of 618,600 tons were recorded last week. The market was also attentive to the completion of planting for the 2026/27 crop in the Corn Belt and to the weather conditions for crop development. In its weather bulletin today, the USDA reported that predominantly sunny weather and temperatures within the seasonal average favor the rapid progress of planting and emergence of corn in the Corn Belt, although temperatures of 32°C have already reached the upper part of the US Midwest. "The short-term drought – in the last 30 days – in many producing areas of the west and north contrasts with the wet weather recorded in the same period in the Ohio Valley and neighboring regions," says the USDA. Yesterday's Drought Monitor showed that 25% of corn crops are in areas experiencing some degree of drought, the same level observed last week and slightly above the 23% recorded in the same period of the previous season. On the radar, the start of the second crop harvest in Brazil – which accounts for about 80% of the national supply – and the progress of fieldwork in Argentina. On Monday (1st), the USDA will release the weekly export report and the updated bulletin with the stages and conditions of US crops.
This text was translated by machine from Brazilian Portuguese.