CBOT corn hit lifetime highs on poor condition ratings, yield expectations

Chicago Board of Trade most-active corn futures hit contract highs amid bullish support from declining yield expectations for U.S. corn and falling condition ratings.

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Monday that 57% of the corn crop was rated in good-to-excellent condition as of Sunday, down from 60% a week earlier, while analysts surveyed by Reuters on average had expected a drop of 1 percentage point.
• The advisory service Pro Farmer on Friday estimated U.S. 2026 corn production will fall well below government forecasts, after a tour of seven major production states found sub-par crops hurt by adverse summer weather.
• Pro Farmer projected farmers would harvest a corn crop of 15.344 billion bushels, down 9.9% from 2025 but still the third-largest on record, with an average yield of 173.2 bushels per acre. Pro Farmer's U.S. yield estimate, if realized, would be the lowest since 2020.
• In Europe, crop monitoring service MARS cut for a second straight month its forecast for this year's maize yield in the European Union, after heat and drought continued to hurt crops.
• The most-active corn contract Cv1 settled 8 cents higher at $5.23-1/2 per bushel.