Chicago Board of Trade corn futures closed modestly higher on Thursday, following strength in soybeans and in the broader commodities sector, traders said. CBOT December corn settled up 2-3/4 cents at $3.54-1/4 a bushel but stayed inside of Wednesday's trading range.
The 19-market Thomson Reuters CoreCommodity Index was up 0.2 percent, paring gains after posting its highest level since May. Traders await yield reports from the US harvest, which is just getting started in the Midwest. The US corn crop is maturing more slowly than usual but freeze threats remain low for the next two weeks.
The USDA reported export sales of US corn in the latest week at 1,046,700 tonnes, near the top of a range of trade expectations for 800,000 to 1,100,000 tonnes. The CBOT reported 87 deliveries against CBOT September corn futures, which expired at 12:01 pm CDT (1701 GMT). The total included 82 issued by the Term Commodities house account. The ADM house account stopped 73 lots.