July Corn finished up 11 1/4 at 258 1/4, 3 3/4 off the high and 2 1/4 up from the low. December Corn closed up 10 1/2 at 281 3/4. This was 3 3/4 up from the low and 4 1/4 off the high.
Bullish news from the USDA sparked aggressive fund and speculative buying on the opening with December corn gapping into new contract highs and July corn up to the highest level since August. A combination of the USDA news, weather and fund buying supported gains of near 17 1/2 cents for the week for December corn. Ending stocks for the 2005/2006 season were pegged at 2.226 billion bushels as compared with the average trade estimate at 2.255 billion bushels (range 2.131-2.301) and compared with last months estimate at 2.301 billion bushels. For the first estimate for the 2006/2007 season, the USDA pegged ending stocks at 1.141 billion bushels as compared with trade expectations at 1.523 billion bushels with a range of 1.3-1.8 billion. The estimate is below the low end of trade expectations and makes the market even more vulnerable to weather this season than trade expectations. Ethanol usage was pegged at 2.226 billion bushels, up 34% from this season. This leaves a stocks/usage ratio at 9.8% which is the lowest since 2003/2004 and under 10% for only the third time in the past 31 years. World ending stocks for the 2006/2007 season were pegged at 92.26 million tonnes as compared with 129.31 million tonnes this season and 131.32 million tonnes last year. This is the lowest world ending stocks since 1975 and the lowest stocks/usage on record (since at least 1960). On top of the USDA news, cold weather should slow growth and could even damage emerged corn in the northern cornbelt. South Korea bought corn overnight.
July Rice finished up 0.11 at 8.7, 0.07 off the high and 0.04 up from the low.
