US corn prices maintained their daily gains on Monday and ended trading firmer. In Chicago, the September contract gained 2.25 US cents to 385.00 US cents, while December also rose 2.25 US cents to 407.75 US cents.
The USDA's weekly condition report downgraded stocks in the "good/excellent" category by one point to 72 percent. In the export business, strong shipment figures provided support. At 1.492 million tons in the week ending August 7, exports were more than 16 percent higher than in the previous week and more than 51 percent above the previous year's figure. The main buyers were Mexico and Japan. Season-to-date shipments total 63.127 million metric tons, up nearly 29 percent from last year.
Prior to the USDA report, analysts were expecting a national average yield of 184.3 bushels per acre, which would mean a harvest of just under 16 billion bushels. This corresponds to around 290 million more than in the previous month. Internationally, the analyst firm APK-Inform raised its forecast for Ukrainian corn production to 27.5 million tons.
There was little sign of US euphoria on Euronext. Here, November corn lost €1.25 to €190.00 per tonne.
