Corn is trading with Monday morning losses of 4 to 6 Futures closed out Friday trade with some strength, as July was 6 cents higher and some new crop contracts posting 2 to 3 cent gains. July corn closed the week with a 2 cent pop, with December slipping back 6 1/4 cents on the week. Friday’s preliminary open interest was down 16,308 contracts. The front month CmdtyView national average Cash Corn price was up 6 cents at $4.21.  Crude oil is well off the overnight highs and leaning lower this morning following a weekend of back and forth strikes between Israel and Iran.

After weekend rains through parts of the southeast and the Central and Eastern Corn Belts, more rain is expected in through a large part of the belt last week. 

Commitment of Traders data from CFTC indicated the corn speculators added 9,977 contracts of futures and options to their net short position in the week that ended on June 10^th. They held a net short of 164,020 contracts as of Tuesday.

Weekly Export Sales data indicated total corn commitments at 65.929 MMT, which is now 98% of the newly updated export forecast and is slightly behind the 99% 5-year average pace. Actual FAS shipments are now 51.541 MMT, which is 76.5% of the USDA estimate and lags behind the 78% average shipping pace. 

Brazil’s second crop corn harvest is now at 5.2% harvested, according to AgRural,  which lags the 21% pace from last year.

Jul 25 Corn  closed at $4.44 1/2, up 6 cents, currently down 5 1/4 cents

Nearby Cash  was $4.21, up 6 cents,

Sep 25 Corn  closed at $4.28 1/2, up 2 1/4 cents, currently down 4 3/4 cents

Dec 25 Corn  closed at $4.43, up 2 1/2 cents, currently down 5 1/4 cents

New Crop Cash  was $4.03 1/2, up 5 1/2 cents,