Corn Plunges After WASDE
Corn futures plunged below $4.30 per bushel, the lowest since late November, as the January WASDE shifted the balance back toward overwhelming supply while demand growth remained insufficient to absorb it. USDA raised 2025/26 US production to a record 17.0 billion bushels, driven by a higher 186.5 bpa yield and a larger harvested area, lifting ending stocks to 2.2 billion bushels. Although feed and residual use was revised higher, demand gains lagged far behind the surge in supply, reinforcing the need for lower prices to clear inventories. Globally, the report also pushed world corn stocks up to 290.9 million tons, largely reflecting higher Chinese stocks, which reduced urgency for import demand elsewhere. At the same time, earlier weather concerns in Argentina have eased as rainfall prospects improve, softening near term South American supply risk and restoring confidence in export availability later in the season.