Corn futures posted Thursday gains of 2 to 5 cents at the close, as there were some bear spreads unwinding with December gaining 1 ¾ cents on March. The CmdtyView national average Cash Corn price is up 5 ¼ cents at $3.79 1/4. We are over halfway through October and getting closer to the Crop Insurance harvest price, with the average close of December futures at $4.18 so far. That is below the $4.70 from February and above the $4.16 harvest price last year.
EIA data from this morning showed a slight uptick in ethanol production for the week ending on October 17, rising 3,000 barrels per day to 1.074 bpd. Despite the output increase, stocks still saw a draw of 92,000 barrels to 22.628 million barrels. Exports slipped back 30,000 bpd to 108,000 bpd on the week, with refiner inputs of ethanol up 23,000 bpd to 915,000 bpd.
Export Sales data would normally be pushed to Friday due to the Monday holiday, though the government shutdown is suspending that. Traders estimate that corn bookings totaled 0.9 to 2 MMT in the week of 10/9.
