Corn futures on the Chicago Board of Trade were mostly firm at midday on Thursday on a big export sales number for corn, traders said. At 11:30 am CDT (1630 GMT), CBOT corn was up 1-1/4 cents per bushel to down 3, with December up 1/4 at $3.44-3/4 per bushel.
Traders and analysts said the big demand for corn continued to support futures, but rallies were being trimmed by active harvesting of a likely record large US corn crop.
The US Agriculture Department said in its weekly export sales report early Thursday that 1,150,700 tonnes of US corn were sold for export last week, within estimates for 900,000 to 1,200,000 tonnes. Oat futures were down 1-3/4 to up 2, with December down 1-3/4 at $2.77-3/4.