Wheat rose for the second straight day as some speculators unwound bets on a market slump after futures failed to drop below a widely followed price-chart level.
Hog futures rose the most in a week on signs that the supply of animals to U.S. meatpackers is shrinking as demand for pork climbs. Cattle fell.
Corn rose, closing at the highest price in almost three weeks, on speculation that wet weather will delay planting in the southern U.S., increasing the risk of lower yields.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) announced on April 9 that Brazil will reach a record soybean production in 2009-10 of 67.25 million tonnes on 23.2 million hectares and record exports at 28.5 million tonnes.
Corn production in India is expected to rise more than 15% in the next crop year starting July because of farmers using new hybrid crops, the head of a state-run agriculture-research agency said Thursday.
Rabobank Australia Thursday increased its forecast for Australian wheat production this crop year to 21.8 million metric tons, citing "outstanding" seasonal conditions in the eastern states.
Pakistan has decided to export 2 million metric tons of wheat immediately, according to a statement issued by the prime minister's office Thursday.
Good weather and prospects for high yields in the northern areas and the central farm belt led the Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange to raise its forecast for soybean production to 54.5 million metric tons, shattering the country's previous soy output record.
Orange-juice futures tumbled to a four-month low on increasing sales by hedge funds and traders. Sugar also declined.
Soybeans fell for the first time in three days on speculation that record acreage in the U.S. will lead to surging global inventories as South American farmers harvest their biggest crops ever.