Corn bulls pushed back on Thursday, coming off overnight lows and closing with front months fractionally mixed and new crop December down 1 ¼ cents. are well off their overnight lows. The CmdtyView national average Cash Corn price was down 1/4 cent on the day at $4.27 1/4. 

Wednesday’s “Liberation Day” tariffs came with Mexico and Canada left off the list as exemptions on all USMCA compliant goods remain. Of the other major US corn buyers, reciprocal tariffs were on Japan at 24%, South Korea at 25% and a baseline of 10% on Colombia were put in place.  They go into effect on April 9, with the 10% set to begin on April 5. There has thus far been no retaliatory measures placed by any country.

Export Sales data showed 1.173 MMT in 2024/25 corn sales during the week ending on March 27, coming in between the trade estimates of 0.8 and 1.6 MMT. That was a 12.9% increase from the week prior and still 23.8% larger than the same week last year. South Korea was the top buyer of 339,400 MT, in that week with Mexico in for 226,500 MT and Japan buying 168,500 MT. New crop sales were tallied at 165,000 MT, all for Japan and exceeding the trade ideas of 0-100,000 MT.

February corn exports were reported at 6.03 MMT (237.5 mbu) according to Census data this morning. That was down 2.11% from the January total but up 12.33% from last year and the third largest Feb total on record. That takes the marketing year total to 1.207 bbu through the end of February. DDG exports were back below last year at 849,645 MT, with ethanol just 0.2% below 2024 at 138.75 million gallons.

May 25 Corn  closed at $4.57 1/2, down 1/4 cent,

Nearby Cash  was $4.27 1/4, down 1/4 cent,

Jul 25 Corn  closed at $4.65 1/2, up 1/4 cent,

Dec 25 Corn  closed at $4.47 1/2, down 1 1/4 cents,

New Crop Cash  was $4.10, down 1 3/4 cents,