CHICAGO: Chicago Board of Trade corn futures ended higher on Friday on strong export sales, traders said. CBOT most-active March corn settled 6-1/4 cents higher at $4.33-3/4 per bushel, after reaching a life-of-contract high at $4.36 per bushel. For the week, corn was 5-3/4 cents higher, for a second consecutive week of gains.

Weekly corn export sales last week totaled 1.67 million tonnes, according to the USDA, above trade estimates for 800,000 to 1.4 million tonnes. In a daily sales announcement, the USDA also reported private sales of 302,160 tonnes of corn to Mexico for shipment in the 2020/21 marketing year.

Additional pressure was noted from traders liquidating positions ahead of first notice day for deliveries against December futures contracts on Monday, November 30.