According to USDA, corn export shipments for the week ending January 1 totaled 1.207 million metric tons (47.5 million bushels). This was 9.6% lower than the previous week, but 37.58% higher than the same week last year. Japan was the largest destination with 294,366 metric tons, followed by Mexico at 243,382 metric tons and Guatemala at 90,557 metric tons. Since September 1 in the 2025/26 marketing year, total corn exports have reached 26.81 million metric tons (1.06 billion bushels), which is 64.83% higher than the same period last year. In addition, 119,195 metric tons of sorghum was shipped to China.

Export Sales data showed total corn sales of 756,419 metric tons during the week ending December 25. This was at the lower end of the expected range of 0.7 to 1.5 million metric tons. It marked the lowest weekly total of the current marketing year and was only 2.6% below the same holiday week last year.

According to Commitment of Traders data, as of December 30 managed funds flipped their position to a net short of 23,584 contracts in corn futures and options. This reflected a shift of 26,343 contracts toward the short side.