CBOT corn ends higher on Mexico tariff exemption, softer dollar

CHICAGO, March 7 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade corn futures rose for a third consecutive session on Friday as news of exemptions for Mexico and Canada to most U.S. tariffs allowed grain prices to recover after a plunge early this week.

• A week-long decline in the dollar =USD lent support, making U.S. grains cheaper overseas.

• CBOT May corn CK25 settled 5-1/4 cents higher at $4.69-1/4 per bushel.

• For the week, the May contract was nearly flat, finishing down 1/4 cent, after trading in a wide, 31-cent range. May corn fluctuated from $4.42-1/2 to $4.73-1/2 during the week as traders responded to on-again, off-again tariff threats against Mexico, the largest U.S. corn buyer.

• On Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump suspended the tariffs he imposed days earlier on most goods from Mexico and Canada.

• Meanwhile, with spring planting season approaching, Canadian and U.S. farmers are bracing for rising fertilizer bills amid a North American trade war.

• South Korea's Major Feedmill Group bought an estimated 131,000 metric tons of corn in an international tender, European traders said, while a Tunisian state grains agency was believed to have made no purchase in an international tender seeking about 25,000 metric tons of corn.