As the government partial shutdown continues, data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture continues to be unavailable, but this has  not stopped corn futures from dropping anyway.  “The lack of USDA reports are actually a blessing, though many in the industry fail to see it that way,” said Darin Newsom, senior analyst at DTN, a commodity-market research company.  “With the lack of interference by USDA, corn and other grains are returning to fundamentals, Newsom said, and “weather is more favorable this week for harvest meaning more bushels could come available as farmers sell.”

According to Newsom, investment traders have given up on corn, “seeing no reason to cover short positions given the increasingly bearish supply and demand situation.”   On the Chicago Board of Trade on October 8, corn for December delivery traded at $4.415 a bushel, down 7.5 cents or 1.7 percent.

A message on the  USDA website says “due to the lapse in federal government funding, this website is not available.  After funding has been restored, please allow some time for this website to become available again.”