In Chicago, corn for December rose by 10.25 US cents on Friday and closed at 430.00 US cents/bushel. The March futures contract rose by 10 US cents to 447.25 US cents/bushel. On a weekly basis, the December contract rose by 12 US cents.
Despite an increased production forecast, the market showed its bullish side. Although the USDA raised acreage by a further 1.47 million acres to almost 98.73 million, the expected average yield fell to 186.7 bushels/acre, 2.1 bushels less than in August. Total production was still estimated at 16.814 billion bushels, an increase of 73 million.
The new WASDE also brought movement: Ending stocks for 2024/25 rose slightly by 20 million bushels to 1.325 billion. Nevertheless, the new inventory surplus fell by 7 million bushels to 2.11 billion, as the USDA revised its export forecast upwards by a whopping 100 million bushels.
Internationally, the ministry increased old stocks by 1.07 million tons to 284.18 million tons, which was largely due to a strong increase in the Brazilian harvest of 3 million tons. However, new world stocks fell slightly to 281.4 million tons.
On Euronext, maize for November also rose, improving by €1.25 to €186.75 per tonne.
