Corn prices held their ground in the middle of the week. The September contract on the CBoT closed with a gain of 1.25 US cents at 399.25 US cents/bushel. The other futures also recorded moderate gains.
The market was supported by the weekly EIA data: US ethanol production rose slightly by 9,000 barrels per day to 1.085 million bpd. At the same time, inventories fell by 158,000 barrels to a total of 23.959 million barrels, although exports declined slightly.
In addition to this news, bulls are drawing further hope from expectations ahead of the upcoming USDA report on Friday. This is expected to show a 14 million bushel reduction in old stocks to 1.351 billion bushels. New crop production could be reduced by 75 million bushels to 15.746 billion bushels due to lower acreage, which would lower the stocks forecast slightly to 1.721 billion bushels.
Corn has recently made considerable gains, mainly due to the good growing weather in the US Corn Belt. Increased ethanol production and a reduction in acreage could slow the downward momentum somewhat in the medium term.
On Euronext, maize closed with a red sign and was € 0.50 lower at € 199.25/t for August.
