Agriculture Market Update: Bearish Sentiment Grows for Corn

Agriculture - Specs increasingly bearish on corn

The latest CFTC data shows that money managers increased their net short in CBOT corn by 45,924 lots to 72,580 lots over the last reporting week. Improved crop conditions in the US have eased some concerns over the US corn crop. It is a similar story for CBOT soybeans, where speculators reduced their net long by 13,362 lots to 50,719 lots. Meanwhile, speculators increased their net short in CBOT wheat by 10,195 lots to 65,590 lots. Clearly, the market is not overly concerned about Ukrainian grain flows, with strong supply growth elsewhere this season, particularly when it comes to corn.

Recent trade numbers from China Customs show that sugar imports fell 60.5% YoY to 110kt in July, whilst cumulative imports declined 41% YoY to 1.2mt in the first seven months of the year. Earlier, 2022/23 sugar import estimates were cut, a trend that we are seeing across a number of key importers, with higher global prices seeing a number of countries drawing down domestic inventories instead.