Corn futures are relatively flat on Tuesday as investors try to carve a new path for the hard agricultural commodity. Corn prices have been trying to sustain the momentum from this past spring when they topped $7.35, rising more than 3% over the last month. What is next for the crop?

December corn futures were flat at $5.69 per bushel at 13:16 GMT on Tuesday on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBoT). Corn prices are coming off a weekly gain of roughly 2%, adding to their year-to-date surge of 17%.

Traders were bullish on recent data suggesting US shipments were on the rise. According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), export inspections for US corn totaled 754,929 metric tons in the week ending August 12, up from 744,934 metric tons in the previous week.

Close to 275,000 metric tons of corn were shipped to China. This was followed by Japan, with 194,508 metric tons, and Mexico, with 180,638 metric tons.

In other agricultural commodities, US soybean inspections increased to 277,637 tons and wheat inspections jumped to 440,567 tons.

Overall, these numbers highlight that American agriculture is still in demand, quashing worries that global imports of US corn, soybean, and wheat were on the decline. Does this mean the commodities bull run still has legs?

The recent numbers from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) note that hedge funds and money managers increased their net-long positions in corn futures and options from 228,009 to 246,500 last week. However, they did cut their net-long positions in soybeans.

In other agricultural markets, September soybean futures slipped $0.06, or 0.044%, to $13.7425 per bushel. September wheat futures fell $0.135, or 1.78%, to $7.47 a bushel. October coffee futures dipped $0.0025, or 0.13%, to $1.86 a pound.