Corn Falls Lower on Monday

Group 1 - Corn futures experienced losses of 7 to 8 cents on Monday, following a period of strength during the previous holiday week amid thin trading conditions [1] - The national average Cash Corn price decreased by 6 ¾ cents, settling at $3.99 ¾ [1] Group 2 - Export Inspections data indicated that corn shipments totaled 1.301 million metric tons (MMT) or 51.2 million bushels (mbu) for the week ending on Christmas day, reflecting a 25.53% decline from the previous week, which is typical due to the holiday, but a 43.37% increase compared to the same week last year [2] - Mexico was the leading destination for corn exports, receiving 400,140 MT, followed by Colombia with 221,240 MT and Japan with 219,137 MT [2] - Cumulative marketing year shipments reached 25.57 MMT (1.006 billion bushels), marking a 66.17% year-over-year increase and the first instance of shipping over 1 billion bushels before year-end since the marketing year began on September 1 [2] Group 3 - EIA data revealed a decrease in ethanol production by 36,000 barrels to 1.095 million barrels per day for the week ending December 19 [3] - Ethanol stocks rose by 175,000 barrels to 22.528 million barrels during the same week [3] - Ethanol exports increased by 28,000 barrels per day to 219,000 barrels per day, while refiner inputs of ethanol rose by 6,000 barrels per day to 912,000 barrels per day [3]