PARIS/SINGAPORE- Chicago corn extended a rally on Thursday to a fresh eight-year high as dry weather threatened harvest yields in major exporter Brazil and kept the focus on ebbing global supplies.

Soybeans also rose further to approach an 8-1/2 year peak, buoyed by rallying vegetable oil prices.

Wheat turned lower as corn pared earlier gains while traders also assessed potentially beneficial rain in some U.S. and European wheat belts.

The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was up 0.6% at $7.13 a bushel by 1153 GMT. It earlier touched another high since March 2013 at $7.22-1/2.

"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."

World food prices increased for an 11th consecutive month in April to a near-seven year high, the United Nations food agency said on Thursday. 

Weather forecasts continued to show little rain for parched southern Brazil in the coming two weeks.

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. 

Traders will be watching weekly U.S. export data later on Thursday for a sign of whether high prices are curbing demand. USDA/EST

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

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

CBOT soybeans rose 1.1% to $15.59 a bushel.

A 13-year high for palm oil, against a backdrop of tight global edible oil supplies, bolstered soybeans. POI/

Impetus in soy and corn prices also reflected the need to incite extra plantings by U.S. farmers to replenish stocks, traders said.

(Reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Edmund Blair) ((gus.trompiz@thomsonreuters.com; +33 1 49 49 52 18; Reuters Messaging: gus.trompiz.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))