Chicago Board of Trade corn futures were firm early on Thursday, with support stemming from the export sector and amid spill-over from a strong rally in soybeans, pit sources said.
At 10:29 am CDT (1529 GMT), CBOT corn was 1/4 to 1 cent per bushel higher, with September up 1/2 at $2.21-3/4. New-crop December was up 3/4 at $2.32.
Refco Inc was the main buyer of 1,000 each of September and December.
Traders said updated government export figures for corn were encouraging.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Thursday reported US corn export sales for last week at 1,116,200 tonnes (old-crop and new-crop combined), above estimates for 650,000 to 900,000 tonnes.
Also early Thursday, USDA said exporters sold 120,000 tonnes of corn to an unknown destination in the past day.