U.S. Corn Market Finds Strength in Tight Global Supplies

Strong biofuel demand and shrinking stocks are supporting the crop heading into harvest.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (RFD News) — Corn demand remains strong as supplies tighten in the U.S. and around the world. Mike Zuzolo with Global Commodity Analytics said the fundamentals behind corn are the strongest he has seen in years.

“We’re now tight in U.S. ending stocks. Like I said, we’re the tightest we’ve been in stocks to use with the world going all the way back to the 2012 drought. France has a 2012 drought situation. Ukraine has dry weather. So we have tight U.S. and world stocks, and we have very strong biofuel demand, and I don’t think South America is going to produce as much as we’ve expected these last few years. So, by every metric- you throw fertilizer, diesel prices, things like that into it- by every metric, corn is probably the better crop to store this year once again.”

With harvest approaching, Zuzolo said marketing decisions will be just as important as production numbers.

“My mindset is that we’re going to have a much tighter cash supply globally, in corn especially, and you might want to look at more paper positions to cover yourself, especially for what you can store past the harvest time period, especially if we get March or July 2027 corn futures to that $5.50, $5.75 level. Store it, protect the future side of the equation, and expect maybe the funds to do most of the selling, whereas the cash market stays pretty strong.”

Zuzolo said the current market could create opportunities for producers able to store corn beyond harvest.

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Knoxville native Neal Burnette-Irwin is a graduate from MTSU where he majored in Journalism and Entertainment Studies. He works as a digital content producer with RFD News and is represented by multiple talent agencies in Nashville and Chicago.


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