The September corn contract traded on Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) The corn futures contract closed this Monday (20) with a strong increase of 4.75 points and 1.07%, quoted at US$ cents 449.50/bushel. The December contract rose 5.50 points and 1.18%, to US$ cents 473.00/bushel. In this trading session, cereal prices were supported by the more than 1% increase in oil on the international market, a factor that increases the competitiveness of US ethanol produced from corn, and by the persistent hot weather in parts of the US Midwest. A daily bulletin from the Department of Agriculture (USDA) indicates that temperatures in the Corn Belt continue to rise before the arrival of a cold front, causing showers and isolated storms in the upper Midwest. "Today's maximum temperatures are expected to reach 38°C or more in much of Nebraska, western Iowa and southern South Dakota, causing some stress to corn and soybean crops that are in the reproductive phase," says the USDA. The Department will soon publish its updated weekly bulletin with the stages and conditions of U.S. crops. Strong international demand also supported prices. Earlier, U.S. exporters reported to the USDA a sale of 100,000 tons of corn to Colombia, with delivery scheduled for the 2026/27 marketing year. The agency also reported that corn inspections for export totaled 1.55 million tons in the week ending July 16, a volume in line with the previous week (1.555 million tons) and 57.4% above the amount shipped in the same period last year (985,000 tons). The performance was within analysts' expectations, which ranged from 1.4 to 1.6 million tons. On the radar are the ongoing harvests in Brazil and Argentina.
This text was translated by machine from Brazilian Portuguese.