Corn futures are still stuck in negative territory at midday on Tuesday, as contracts are fractionally to 2 cents lower across most contracts. 

Rains were rolling through the Northern Plains overnight, moving over to other parts of the Western Corn Belt today and eventually eastward tomorrow. Beyond that, the last half of this week and into early next week are drier for much of the Corn Belt.

Monday 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). Missouri was already 26% complete compared to the 10% average, with IA 4% planted. States in the Eastern Corn Belt are off to a slightly slower start, with IL (3%), IN (1%) and OH (0%) each 1% back of the 5-year average.

Ukraine’s ag ministry expects this year’s corn acreage to drop 4.5% from last year at 3.863 million hectares (9.55 million acres). Production is forecasted at 27 MMT

May 24 Corn  is at $4.31, down 1/2 cent,

Nearby Cash   is at $4.13 1/8, down 3/8 cent,

Jul 24 Corn  is at $4.42 3/4, down 1 1/2 cents,

Dec 24 Corn  is at $4.67 3/4, down 1 1/2 cents,

New Crop Cash   is at $4.30 3/8, down 1 1/2 cents,