Week Ending 4/10/2026

Corn continued its downward trend this past week as corn and crude oil continue to diverge from each other amid potential talks between the US and Iran. May corn ended the week 11 cents lower while July and December futures are 12 and 9 cents lower respectively. The funds sold close to 40,000 contracts to end the week long 182,476 corn contracts. The funds had little movement in their soybean position, ending the week long 192,805 contracts.

On Thursday the USDA released their April WASDE report that as expected was neutral for corn and soybeans. For corn, there were no changes from the previous month. Domestic ending stocks remain at 2,127 million bu.  This was below the average estimate of 2,143. On the world balance sheet, global ending stocks are forecast slightly higher at 294.81 MMT. Corn exports and ethanol demand remain on track to meet the USDA projections for the year. Despite some demand increases at the global level, world ending stocks climbed 2 mmt.

The US and Iran appear to have a ceasefire, but it still feels tenuous and crude oil continued to trade that way last week. Despite big moves in oil, the corn markets appear to be separating themselves from the volatility of crude for the time being. Despite corns connection to the energy market, I believe this separation is supported by the lack of any fundamental change in the size of last year’s crop and the carryout we are looking at. Until new crop corn fails to meet current estimates, old crop corn will struggle to rally.

Look for the markets focus to shift to early season planting progress and next month’s WASDE where the USDA will publish its first balance sheet for the 2026/27 crop year.

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