Corn futures are showing some buying early on Monday morning, up 2 to 4 cents. The corn market finished off the week of losses with bears taking some money off the table. Contracts were up 2 to 4 cents across most months, with July falling 19 ¼ cents (4.10%) last  week and December down 8 ¼ cents. Preliminary open interest was up 6,068 contracts on Friday, mostly in the Dec (+8,587) and March (+4,539). There were 12 deliveries issued against May on Friday night. They expire on Wednesday. The nearby CmdtyView national average Cash Corn price was up 2 1/4 cents at $4.20 1/4. 

Speculators in corn futures and options were cutting back a total of 57,436 contracts from their net long in corn futures and options as of May 6. That net long stood at just 13,893 contracts as of Tuesday, the lowest since early November. 

USDA will release their first look at the US balance sheet later this morning, with a Reuters survey of analysts looking for a yield of 181.1 bpa. Production is expected to total 15.787 billion bushels. The US carryout is expected to be trimmed by 22 million bushels to 1.443 billion bushels for old crop, with new crop estimated at 2.02 bbu in USDA’s first release. 

Ahead of the WASDE report, analysts expect to see Argentina corn production down 0.25 MMT from last month at 49.75 MMT. Brazil’s output is expected to rise by ~1 MMT to 126.96 MMT on average. World ending stocks are estimated to be down slightly to 287.65 MMT for old crop, with new crop at 297.36 MMT.

May 25 Corn  closed at $4.41 1/2, up 2 1/2 cents, currently up 1 1/2 cents

Nearby Cash  was $4.20 1/4, up 2 1/4 cents,

Jul 25 Corn  closed at $4.49 3/4, up 2 1/4 cents, currently up 3 1/2 cents

Dec 25 Corn  closed at $4.42, up 3 1/4 cents, currently up 2 1/2 cents

New Crop Cash  was $4.00 3/4, up 3 cents,