CANBERRA/PARIS: Chicago soybean futures rose on Wednesday, helped by US export sales, rising crude oil prices and worries over production in top exporter Brazil.

Corn futures inched higher while wheat was slightly down.

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was up 0.25% at $13.15-3/4 a bushel by 1211 GMT.

Prices fell 1.1% on Tuesday as weather forecasts suggested that key growing areas in Brazil would get some much-needed rainfall in the coming days, helping crops.

But a farm survey on Tuesday suggested that heat waves and scarce rainfall in Mato Grosso, the biggest grain state, would see soybean production fall by more than 9 million metric tons to 36.15 million tons in the 2023/24 season.

StoneX analyst Arlan Suderman said he expected production estimates in Brazil to continue to trend lower.

“(But) the question is, will they fall enough to necessitate an increase in US exports that requires higher prices to ration US demand? We have no evidence of that being the case yet,” he said, adding that the US soybean market was currently adequately supplied.

In the United States, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) confirmed that exporters sold 132,000 tons of US soybeans to unknown destinations, the latest in a flurry of sales that have supported prices.