Chicago Board of Trade corn futures rose on Monday on technical buying including fund short-covering and spillover strength from soybeans, traders said. CBOT December corn settled up 4-1/2 cents at $3.78-1/4 per bushel after reaching $3.78-1/2, its highest since Aug. 20.
Commodity funds hold a net short position in CBOT corn futures, leaving the market vulnerable to bouts of short-covering. Some analysts expect that the US Department of Agriculture might further lower its US corn yield next month, after trimming its forecast last week to 180.7 bushels per acre.
Analysts reported a pickup in cash sales by US farmers as CBOT futures climbed.
Ahead of the USDA's weekly crop progress report due later on Monday, analysts on average expected the government to show the harvest of both the US corn and soybean crops as 40 percent complete.