* Traders began taking positions ahead of a flurry of US export sales data expected to be released Friday, as well as US planting acreage forecasts later this week from the US Department of Agriculture.
* CBOT March corn closed up 1 cent at $3.70-3/4 per bushel on Wednesday.
* The US Department of Agriculture is expected to release its forecasts for US 2019 corn, soybean and wheat plantings this week at its annual Outlook Forum.
* USDA is expected to release six weeks of US export data on Friday. The data release was delayed due to the partial government shutdown.
* Large speculators switched to a net short position in Chicago Board of Trade corn futures in the week to Jan. 29, regulatory data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released on Tuesday showed.
* Market participants were under the impression that speculators closed out January relatively optimistic toward the grains.
* The CFTC's weekly commitments of traders report also showed that noncommercial traders, a category that includes hedge funds, increased their net short position in CBOT wheat and trimmed their net short position in soybeans.