CHICAGO: Chicago Board of Trade corn futures ended higher on Monday, rallying from early declines on firm cash markets and positioning ahead of the US Department of Agriculture's quarterly stocks report at midweek, traders said.

CBOT December corn settled up 1-1/2 cents at $3.66-3/4 per bushel.

Fresh export sales lent support. The USDA confirmed private sales of 110,800 tonnes of US corn to Japan and another 207,140 tonnes to unknown destinations, all for delivery in the 2020/21 marketing year that began Sept. 1.

Ahead of the USDA's quarterly US stocks report on Wednesday, analysts surveyed by Reuters on average expected the government to peg Sept. 1 corn stocks at 2.250 billion bushels, the largest Sept. 1 figure since 2017, if confirmed.

Ahead of the USDA's weekly crop progress report later on Monday, analysts on average expected the government to show the US corn harvest as 17% complete, up from 8% a week ago.

The USDA reported export inspections of US corn in the latest week at 806,639 tonnes, in line with trade expectations for 650,000 to 900,000 tonnes.