CHICAGO, August 7, 2025 – Corn prices showed resilience in the face of mixed market signals on Wednesday, with contracts closing the session with only minor losses. While the national average cash corn price saw a slight dip, underlying data on ethanol production and strong export sales are providing a bullish outlook for the grain.
The latest weekly report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed a notable draw in ethanol stocks. For the week ending August 1, ethanol production averaged 1.081 million barrels per day, a decrease of 15,000 barrels per day from the previous week. This reduction in output contributed to a significant 960,000-barrel drop in ethanol inventories, bringing the total to 23.756 million barrels.
Market analysts are now keenly awaiting the release of the weekly export sales report. Projections for old crop corn sales for the week of July 31 are estimated to be between 200,000 and 400,000 metric tons. More impressively, new crop business is anticipated to be in the range of 1.3 to 2.5 million metric tons, bolstered by a previously announced 1.1 million metric tons in daily sales last week. Adding to the positive export news, a South Korean importer recently purchased 68,000 metric tons of corn.
On the international front, Brazil’s corn exports for July totaled 2.434 million metric tons. While this figure is a 31.51% decrease from the same period last year, it represents a significant increase from June’s totals. The slower pace compared to the previous year is attributed to a delayed second crop harvest and logistical competition from soybean shipments.
Closing prices for corn contracts on Wednesday reflected the mixed but hopeful sentiment. September 2025 corn closed at $3.79 3/4, down 1 3/4 cents, while December 2025 corn saw a smaller dip of 3/4 of a cent to close at $4.01 1/4. The nearby cash price was reported at $3.63 3/4, a decrease of 2 1/4 cents.
As the market digests this latest information, the combination of tightening ethanol supplies and robust export demand is providing a silver lining for corn producers and traders, suggesting underlying strength in the market.
