The quote above is the live front-month Corn futures price, the same feed used across Commodity Hub. The rest of this page explains what actually moves that number — the supply and demand drivers, how the forward curve behaves, the seasonal pattern, how to read positioning, and the recurring reports worth watching.
Corn futures trade on the CBOT and track the largest U.S. row crop by planted acreage, used for livestock feed, ethanol, and food processing. Price is driven by the planting-to-harvest weather calendar, USDA acreage and yield estimates, and export demand.
The U.S. growing-season weather calendar is the core driver. A wet spring that delays planting, a dry or hot spell during July pollination — the yield-critical window for corn — or an early autumn frost can each move price sharply months before the harvest confirms the outcome. The market trades the probability distribution of the crop, and it narrows as the season progresses.
USDA reports are the scheduled catalysts. The Prospective Plantings report (late March) and the Acreage report (late June) set how much corn is in the ground; the monthly WASDE updates yield, production, and ending stocks; and the quarterly Grain Stocks reports true up how much is actually being used. A number far from the trade estimate can lock the contract limit-up or limit-down.
Demand has three legs: livestock feed, ethanol (a large and policy-sensitive share of the U.S. crop), and exports. Export competitiveness versus Brazil and Argentina, the ethanol margin and the price of gasoline it blends into, and the size of the cattle, hog, and poultry herds all feed into the balance. The corn–soybean price ratio also influences how many acres farmers plant of each the following year.
The corn forward curve is organised around the U.S. harvest. New-crop contracts (December, and the following year's months) trade separately from old-crop (this year's July and September), and the old-crop/new-crop spread is a direct read on how tight supplies are before the combines roll. A large carry — deferred months well above the front — signals ample supply and pays growers to store grain; a flat or inverted curve signals scarcity and pulls grain out of storage now. Roll costs on a long position follow that shape.
For the mechanics of reading a curve month by month, see contango vs. backwardation and the roll yield calculator.
Corn has a well-known seasonal tendency: prices often firm from winter into spring and early summer as weather risk gets priced in, then soften into and after the autumn harvest as the new crop floods in — the so-called harvest low. The pattern is a tendency, not a rule; a drought year inverts it completely. Basis (local cash minus futures) has its own seasonal that matters to physical participants.
Managed money swings between large net long and large net short in corn, and the fund position often trends with the weather and the USDA balance sheet. Positioning extremes matter most around the report calendar: a heavily net-short fund community into a bullish WASDE, or a crowded net long into a benign forecast, sets up a positioning-driven move on top of the fundamental surprise. Commercial (producer and end-user) positioning on the other side of the fund is the hedging flow.
Background: how to read the COT report.
The market data calendar lists when these are released.
Relevant background: seasonality, COT positioning, and roll yield.
What is the futures ticker and contract size for corn?
CBOT corn trades as ZC (open-outcry legacy symbol C), shown as ZC=F for the continuous front month. Each contract is 5,000 bushels, and the price is quoted in cents per bushel, so a one-cent move is worth $50.
Which months matter most for the corn crop?
Planting in April and May, then pollination in July, which is the single most yield-sensitive period — heat and drought stress during silking do the most damage. Harvest runs from September into November. Weather scares outside the pollination window move price less.
What is the WASDE and why does it move corn?
The World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates is the USDA's monthly balance sheet for major crops. It sets the official production and ending-stocks numbers the whole market anchors to, so a figure far from the trade's expectation can move corn the daily limit.
What is the old-crop/new-crop spread?
The price difference between a contract that will be delivered from the current harvest (old crop, e.g. July) and one from the next harvest (new crop, e.g. December). It measures how tight supplies are in the gap before new grain is available.
Commodity Hub tracks Corn alongside 30 other commodities with historical charts, forward curves, COT positioning, seasonality, and price alerts. Open the app to see it live, or browse the full commodity list.