Corn futures are trading 1 to 2 cents lower to start the week. They ended the Friday session with most contracts steady to 2 1/4 cents lower, despite some bullish news from the USDA. Friday’s batch of USDA reports saw 2018/19 US yield slashed by 2.5 bpa to 176.4 bpa, which dropped production to 14.420 bbu. That was the largest production reduction from Nov to the final number since 2006. After several balance sheet revisions, 2018/19 ending stocks were trimmed by 46 mbu to 1.735 bbu. The quarterly Grain Stocks report showed Dec 1 corn stocks at 11.952 bbu, which is down 4.89% from last year. On the bear side, world ending stocks are projected at 309.78 MMT, up 1 MMT from the Dec number. Of the 309.8 MMT, China would be holding 207.8 MMT. USDA left the Brazil production number at 94.5 MMT, with Argentina at 46 MMT, up 3.5 MMT from December. CONAB is expected to update their Brazilian numbers on Tuesday.

--provided by Brugler Marketing & Management