USDA: Corn exports sink

According to the USDA's latest U.S. Export Sales report, corn Exports of 657,900 metric tons (MT) were down 17 percent from last week and 12 percent from the 4-week average.  The primary destinations were Mexico (236,500 MT), Japan (219,800 MT), South Korea (107,600 MT), Taiwan (29,600 MT), Cuba (26,100 MT), and Costa Rica (16,900 MT).

corn net sales of 959,100 MT were up 2 percent from the previous week and 39 percent from the prior 4-week average.  Increases reported for Mexico (295,900 MT), unknown destinations (291,100 MT), South Korea (125,000 MT), Japan (78,300 MT), Venezuela (70,500 MT), and China (60,000 MT), were partially offset by decreases for Peru (45,000 MT) and Colombia (22,300 MT).  Net sales of 16,700 MT for delivery in the 2012/2013 marketing year were primarily reported for Mexico (11,200 MT).

Corn futures ended higher on Wednesday as they stabilized after Tuesday’s decline in response to USDA’s supply and demand update. On Thursday corn opened 1 to 5 cents higher as it is expected to draw some support from other crops, especially soybeans, and from outside markets.

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