Corn Starting Tuesday Trade with Steady Action

Group 1 - Corn prices showed steady trade on Tuesday, with futures experiencing losses of 7 to 8 cents on Monday, following a holiday period with thin trading [1] - The national average cash corn price decreased by 6 ¾ cents to $3.99 ¾ [1] Group 2 - Export inspections data indicated corn shipments of 1.301 million metric tons (MMT) for the week ending on Christmas, a decrease of 25.53% from the previous week but an increase of 43.37% from 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] - Total 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 [2] Group 3 - EIA data revealed a decline in ethanol production by 36,000 barrels to 1.095 million barrels per day for the week ending December 19 [3] - Ethanol stocks increased by 175,000 barrels to 22.528 million barrels, while exports rose by 28,000 barrels per day to 219,000 barrels per day [3] - Refiner inputs of ethanol increased by 6,000 barrels per day to 912,000 barrels per day [3]