Corn futures extended losses on Monday after the U.S. Department of Agriculture released multiple reports. Front-month contracts closed down 22 to 24 ¼ cents, while deferred contracts fell 5 to 14 ½ cents. The national average cash corn price dropped 24 cents to $3.83 1/4.
The USDA announced a private export sale of 204,000 metric tons of corn to South Korea this morning, along with another 310,000 metric tons sold to unknown destinations. This news was overshadowed by other USDA data.
USDA's Crop Production report showed U.S. corn yield at 186.5 bushels per acre, a 0.5 bpa increase from November. Harvested acres rose 1.3 million to 91.3 million acres, pushing production to 17.021 billion bushels, up 269 million bushels from November.
The quarterly Grain Stocks report tallied December 1 corn stocks at 13.282 billion bushels. This was above the analyst average estimate of 12.962 billion bushels and 1.207 billion bushels higher than a year ago.
WASDE data showed U.S. ending stocks raised by 198 million bushels to 2.227 billion bushels. World ending stocks increased 11.76 million metric tons to 290.91 MMT, with adjustments including a 6.24 MMT increase to Chinese production.
Monday morning's Export Inspections report showed 1.49 MMT (58.66 million bushels) of corn shipped in the week of January 8. This was 12.75% above the previous week and 3.4% larger than the same week last year. Mexico was the largest destination with 702,811 MT, followed by Japan with 258,110 MT and Taiwan with 161,058 MT. Marketing year shipments total 28.43 MMT (1.119 billion bushels), 60.54% above the same period last year.
In Brazil, AgRural reported the first corn crop is 0.5% harvested as of Thursday, with the larger second crop 0.2% planted.
March 2026 corn closed at $4.21 1/2, down 24 1/4 cents. Nearby cash was $3.83 1/4, down 24 cents. May 2026 corn closed at $4.30 1/2, down 23 1/4 cents. July 2026 corn closed at $4.38, down 22 1/4 cents.