Corn Heads Lower as Traders Take Risk Off Approach on Fresh Tariffs

Austin Schroeder Barchart Wed Mar 12, 5:20PM CDT
Corn harvest - by ulleo via Pixabay

Corn posted losses across the board on Wednesday, with contracts down 6 to 10 cents at the close. The front months were the leaders. The CmdtyView national average Cash Corn price was down 9 cents at $4.22 1/4. 

Retaliatory tariffs from the EU due to the US tariffs on steel and aluminum are set to begin in early April and include corn. While the EU has very little US corn on the books, the US has shipped 2.47 MMT of corn to the EU this MY. Canada’s energy minister stated that potential retaliatory tariffs on US goods could hit ethanol in their second round of duties, which are threatened if the US proceeds with the delayed USMCA tariffs on April 2. 

The weekly EIA report showed ethanol production cut back by 31,000 barrels per day in the week ending on March 7, with a total of 1.062 million bpd. Stocks of ethanol rose 87,000 barrels to 27.376 million barrels. Stocks in the Midwest expanded to a record 11.537 million barrels. Refiner inputs of ethanol were down 13,000 bpd to 877,000 bpd, as gasoline product supplied (implied use) was the highest since early November at 9.182 million bpd. 

Prior to Thursday morning’s Export Sales report, traders are looking for 0.75 and 1.4 MMT in old crop corn bookings during the week that ended on 3/6. New crop sales are estimated to total between 0 and 100,000 MT.

Mar 25 Corn  closed at $4.48 3/4, down 7 3/4 cents,

Nearby Cash  was $4.22 1/4, down 9 cents,

May 25 Corn  closed at $4.60 3/4, down 9 1/2 cents,

Dec 25 Corn  closed at $4.48 1/4, down 6 1/4 cents,

New Crop Cash  was $4.12 5/8, down 6 3/4 cents,


On the date of publication, Austin Schroeder did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.