According to Export Inspections data, corn shipments totaled 1.301 million metric tons (51.2 million bushels) in the week ending on Christmas Day. This was down 25.53% from the previous week, which is considered normal due to the holiday, but up 43.37% compared to the same week last year. Mexico was the top destination with 400,140 metric tons, followed by Colombia at 221,240 metric tons and Japan at 219,137 metric tons. Marketing year shipments have now reached 25.57 million metric tons (1.006 billion bushels), marking a 66.17% year-on-year increase and the first time on record that more than 1 billion bushels have been shipped before the end of the calendar year since the marketing year began on September 1.

According to EIA data released Monday afternoon, ethanol production slipped by 36,000 barrels to 1.095 million barrels per day in the week ending December 19. During the same week, ethanol stocks increased by 175,000 barrels to 22.528 million barrels. Ethanol exports rose by 28,000 barrels per day to 219,000 barrels per day, while refiner ethanol usage increased by 6,000 barrels per day to 912,000 barrels per day.