Corn Prices Rise as Speculative Longs Expand
Corn futures maintained their gains over the weekend, with contracts settling higher by 1 to 4 cents. The September contract rose 28¼ cents for the week and December climbed 28 cents. Managed money investors added a net long position of 126,008 corn futures and options contracts as of August 25, bringing their total to 376,513—marking the largest since April 2022 but still below Tuesday's record high from 2006. Speculators held a historic net long position of 465,500 outright corn contracts. Export sales for the current marketing year reached 87.758 million metric tons (MMT), meeting USDA projections and matching last year’s pace as the market approaches its end on Monday. New crop commitments stood at 12.458 MMT, down 33.6% from a year ago but still among the highest in three decades. Brazil's projected corn output for 2026/27 is now estimated at 145.6 MMT by Safras & Mercado—up slightly and well above USDA’s current estimate of 139 MMT.
Topics: CFTC_data corn export_sales futures_trading