SINGAPORE, May 6 (Reuters) – Chicago corn futures rose up to 2% on Thursday to their highest in more than eight years, as concerns over dry weather in Brazil and strong demand from animal feed producers buoyed the market.

Wheat extended gains and soybeans edged higher.

“The sentiment is pretty bullish, not just in corn but the entire grains complex,” said Phin Ziebell, agribusiness economist at National Australia Bank.

“There are a lot of weather events globally, which are supporting prices, although the market has yet to see any real supply shock.”

The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) added 1.6% to $7.19-3/4 a bushel, as of 0112 GMT. The market touched $7.23 a bushel earlier in the session, its highest level since March 2013.

Wheat gained 0.5% to $7.48-1/4 a bushel and soybeans rose 0.3% to $15.47 a bushel.

Dry weather in Brazil is continuing to raise concerns about global supplies.

Brazil’s cereal exporter association Anec on Wednesday said the country would ship some 32 million tonnes of corn this year, 1.6 million tonnes less than in 2020.

China cancelled purchases of 140,000 tonnes of U.S. corn for delivery in the 2020/2021 marketing year, following the recent surge in prices, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said.

Still, the USDA reported that exporters sold 184,100 tonnes of U.S. corn to Mexico and a total of 147,320 tonnes to unknown buyers.

French soft wheat shipments outside the European Union last month were the lowest for an April in nine years, as exports to Morocco and Algeria eased, Refinitiv data showed.

Soft wheat exports to destinations outside the EU-27 and Britain totalled 665,600 tonnes in April, the 10th month of the 2020/21 season, an initial estimate based on Refinitiv loading data showed.

Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT corn, wheat, soybean and soymeal futures contracts on Thursday, traders said.

(Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)