March Corn finished up 16 1/4 at 376 1/2, 3 3/4 off the high and 9 up from the low. May Corn closed up 17 1/4 at 387 1/2. This was 10 up from the low and 2 3/4 off the high.
March and May corn managed to trade limit-up for a short period late in the day before closing sharply higher on the session. Indications that index fund "rebalancing" for 2007 was complete and renewed buying from funds and speculators supported the high-volume surge in corn prices early in the session. Indications that the market "needs" a sharp run-up in planted acres for the coming year due to a persistent increase in demand expected in the months ahead (as more and more ethanol plants come on line) helped drive the market higher. Export news is also quite strong. Weekly US export sales for corn came in at 1.517 million metric tonnes as compared to trade expectations between 800,000-1.1 million. Cumulative sales have reached 56.5% of the USDA forecast as compared to 46.5% on average over the last five years. Sales of 709,600 metric tonnes per week are needed to reach the USDA estimate. In addition to the weekly sales, the USDA reported a sale of 113,792 tonnes to Japan. China exported 470,000 tonnes of corn in December which was below the 600,000 tonnes expected. For tomorrow mornings reports, traders look for the USDA to peg the final 2006 production number at 10.699 billion bushels (range 10.64-10.745) as compared with the December estimate of 10.745 billion bushels. For the quarterly grain stocks report, traders look for corn stocks near 9.068 billion bushels (8.9-9.2) as compared with 9.815 billion last year. Ending stocks are expected near 905 million bushels (range 860-966) as compared with December's estimate of 935 million bushels.
