CHICAGO, Illinois (Agriculture.com)--The pre-opening prices for the CME Group grain commodities for Thursday, March 3, 2011 are higher. Corn is seen opening 3-5 cents higher, soybeans 3-5 cents higher and wheat up 2-4 cents. 

In overnight electronic trading, the May corn futures contract traded 4 1/2 cents higher at $7.26 per bushel. The May soybean futures contract traded 2 3/4 cents higher at $13.97 per bushel. The May wheat futures contract traded 5 3/4 cents higher at $8.17. For May soymeal futures, the contract traded $2.30 higher at $366.70, and May soyoil $0.14 lower at $58.66.

The outside markets are not supportive for Thursday's grain trade. The real factors driving the higher early calls are the higher overnight markets. Plus, fresh export sales favor corn and soybeans.

The USDA Weekly Export Sales released Thursday appear to be friendly for corn and soybeans. For corn, USDA estimates sales at 1.201 million metric tons, slightly above trade expectations of 800 to 1,100 metric tons (mt).

Soybean sales were estimated at 645,300 mt, above trade expectations of 250-450,000 mt. USDA reports wheat sales of 650,900 mt, below a trade expectation of 900-1.2 million mt. For soyoil, weekly sales came in at 16,000.