Corn futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were firm early on Thursday amid supportive export news and on spillover support from a rally in soybeans, traders said.
At 10:02 am CST (1602 GMT), CBOT corn was up 3/4 cent to down 1/4 cent per bushel, with December up 1/2 at $1.96-1/2 per bushel.
Traders also said the corn market was stabilising and attempting to consolidate and form a bottom near the contract lows that were set earlier this week.
Traders said USDA's number for corn in its weekly export sales report was supportive for corn futures prices.
USDA on Thursday said export sales of US corn last week totalled 1,218,200 tonnes, above trade estimates for 700,000 to 1,200,000 tonnes.