Corn Morning Update & Commentary: Overnight, corn futures were mostly a little easier, finishing two cents lower by the morning pause. Export news is front and center again, even though the weekly data was delayed to Friday. Overall, U.S. bushels held mixed feature; Taiwan picked up a cargo of southern hemisphere corn, while two more Korean buyers each picked up a cargo, too, only one of which.....
<div class=\"default-font-wrapper\" style=\"line-height: 1;font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;\"><div style=\"line-height: 1;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;\">Corn Morning Update & Commentary:<br id=\"isPasted\">Overnight, corn futures were mostly a little easier, finishing two cents lower by the morning pause. Export news is front and center again, even though the weekly data was delayed to Friday. Overall, U.S. bushels held mixed feature; Taiwan picked up a cargo of southern hemisphere corn, while two more Korean buyers each picked up a cargo, too, only one of which could be booked from the U.S. 8 AM sales were busy again, albeit in less exciting feature than yesterday; 197,180 metric tons to Mexico, and 101,000 metric tons to ‘unknown’. We still think the market would be happier about these developments if U.S. sellers were winning discretionary Asian business, but in the end it all counts! The report-du-jour is the weekly EIA report, also delayed one day from usual. We expect ethanol production will recover a little more from an unusually brief autumn maintenance lull. Demand is likely to be hurt by Hurricane Milton. This should swing ethanol stocks back to a small build (likely less than +1%). Ethanol futures have trended lower with corn this week; prompt Nov CU minted new eight month lows yesterday. We think an average Midwest ethanol plant is squeaking out small profits today of less than 5 c/gal, net of all costs.<br> <br>Wednesday was ‘bounce day’ in the grains, though an intraday reversal lower in soybeans tried its best to play spoiler. Glass half-full, corn futures finished 1-3 cents higher; glass half empty, the market is still eleven cents lower for the week. Funds may have covered a few stray shorts, leaving them net short just under 50,000 lots. Cash trade leaned firmer. A couple of large 8 AM flash sales helped get the day started right. Wed, Mexico booked a whopping 1,623,060 metric tons of U.S. corn, though it was split between 1.044 mmt the current 24/25 year and 0.579 mmt next (25/26) year. There was also 332,000 metric tons U.S. sold to ‘unknown’ buyers Wed. First crop planting is ongoing in South America, and autumn harvest is running hot and heavy domestically. Combined with Tuesday’s Crop Progress data, we would say it’s safe to assume the U.S. corn harvest is past the halfway point. Despite a nice upswing in precip for some areas, Argentina farm groups are still complaining about suboptimal conditions (polar winds??).<br> <br> <br>QT News - Top News<br> <br>**USDA reported private sale of 197,180 metric tons of corn for delivery to Mexico during the 2024/2025 marketing year.<br> <br>**USDA reported private sale of 101,000 metric tons of corn for delivery to unknown destinations during the 2024/2025 marketing year.<br> <br> <br> <br>**Weekly USDA export sales data will be released on Friday at 7:30 am due to Monday's federal holiday<br> <br> <br> <br>-- On Thursday, grain trade sources reported 65,000 mt of either US or South American origin Corn was bought in a privately negotiated deal by Nonghyup Feed. They reportedly paid $236.49/mt cf for 55,000 mt, the remainder was priced at $1.98 over December CBOT corn futures. The grain is delivery by Dec 27th.<br> <br>-- Grain trade sources on Thursday reported Jordan is seeking 120,000 mt of feed grade Barley in a tender to close on October 23rd. The grain is expected for shipment from mid December through the end of January.<br> <br>-- Traders reported Algeria announced a snap tender to close later today, they're seeking 240,000 mt of feed Corn and 35,000 mt of feed Barley. Origins accepted include Argentina or Brazil, and shipment is for first half of November.<br> <br>-- MFIG on Thursday announced a tender to close on Friday, Oct 18th, where they're seeking up to 65,000 mt of feed grade Corn. Origins accepted include Argentina, Brazil, or South Africa. The grain is expected for shipment between Dec 26 through Jan 29, depending on origin.<br> <br>-- Chinese state media Thursday, citing the Ag Ministry, reported 70% of the country's fall grain harvest has been completed. Around 83% of soybeans and over 70% of corn has been collected. In addition to harvest, the media reported 42% of the country's winter rapeseed has been planted, and 27% of winter wheat has been sown.<br> <br>-- Buenos Aires Grains Exchange monthly climate report Wednesday suggests stronger than typical polar winds could dry out the country's breadbasket region over the coming months. This spring is expected to have lower than average rainfall, and remain that way into early summer months<br> <br> <br> <br>Pending Tenders<br> <br>NA<br> <br> <br> <br>-- Euronext Paris November corn futures on Thursday are trading +0.75 euro higher at 212.75 euros/mt<br> <br>-- Dalian January corn futures on Thursday traded -6 yuan lower ending at 2,203 yuan/mt</span></div><br><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;\">KJ</span></div>