Corn prices ended the Monday session with contracts 1 3/4 to 4 cents lower across the board. May never recovered from early weakness and closed with a 4 cent loss, while December was down 2 ¾ cents.  

USDA reported a private export sale of 165,000 MT of corn to Mexico this morning, with 135,000 MT scheduled for old crop shipment and 30,000 MT for new crop. 

Export Inspections data from FGIS showed 1.33 MMT of corn exported during the week of April 11. That was a drop of 7.71% from the previous week but an increase of 7.63% from the same week last year. Mexico was in for 429,870 MT of the total, with 293,493 MT headed to Japan and 193,545 MT to South Korea.  Inspections YTD for the marketing year have totaled 28.681 MMT (1.129 bbu), which is 33.74% more than the same period last year. 

This afternoon’s Crop Progress report showed the US corn crop at 6% planted as of Sunday, 1% ahead of the 5-year average but 1% behind the same day last year. The average trade guess was 7%. Some sort of planting pace has been picked up in all but 5 of the major 18 states (CO, MN, ND, OH, and PA).

May 24 Corn  closed at $4.31 1/2, down 4 cents,

Nearby Cash   was $4.14 5/8, down 3 5/8 cents,

Jul 24 Corn  closed at $4.44 1/4, down 3 cents,

Dec 24 Corn  closed at $4.69 1/4, down 2 3/4 cents,

New Crop Cash   was $4.32 7/8, down 2 3/4 cents,