Chicago Board of Trade corn futures rose to two-week peaks on Monday on the easing of trade tensions between the United States and China, but the market settled near unchanged as buying interest faded. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Sunday that the US trade war with China is "on hold" and President Donald Trump said China had pledged to buy "massive amounts" of American agricultural products.
CBOT July corn settled 1/4 cent higher at $4.02-3/4 per bushel. * Favorable rains in the Midwest were seen boosting recently planted crops. Declining wheat futures added pressure to corn prices.
The US Department of Agriculture is due to report planting progress later on Monday. Analysts polled by Reuters on average expect 80 percent of the corn crop to have been seeded as of Sunday. The USDA said 1,527,994 tonnes of US corn were inspected for export last week, in line with trade estimates.