Corn futures are trading with 2 to 5 ½ cent gains so far on Friday morning. The corn market pulled off the session lows into the Thursday close, with contracts down 1 to 2 cents at the close. Preliminary open interest was up 26,996 contracts on Thursday. There were another 17 deliveries issued against May futures overnight.  The nearby CmdtyView national average Cash Corn price was down 1 3/4 cents at $4.18 3/4. 

Export Sales data from Thursday showed a total of 1.662 MMT of old crop corn sales in the week ending on May 1, which was a 19-week high for corn sales and 87% above the same week last year. Japan was the top buyer of 338,500 MT, with Taiwan buying 283400 MT and Spain in for 240,500 MT.  New crop sales were just 18,000 MT,.

Ahead of Monday’s WASDE report, analysts expect to see US carryout trimmed by 22 million bushels to 1.443 billion bushels for old crop, with new crop estimated at 2.02 bbu in USDA’s first release. 

A couple different South Korean importers purchased 137,000 MT of corn overnight. The US announced a trade deal with the UK earlier on Thursday, with part of the deal including Britain agreeing to increase market access for US ethanol exports. 

May 25 Corn  closed at $4.39, down 2 cents, currently up 1 3/4. cents

Nearby Cash  was $4.18 3/4, down 1 3/4 cents,

Jul 25 Corn  closed at $4.47 1/2, down 1 3/4 cents, currently up 5 1/2 cents

Dec 25 Corn  closed at $4.38 3/4, down 2 cents, currently up 3 1/4 cents

New Crop Cash  was $3.97 5/8, down 2 1/2 cents,