CHICAGO, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Chicago corn and soybeans on Thursday inched up as dry weather in South America continued to threaten crops production. A better-than-expected export sales gave additional push. Wheat market further declined amid tougher export competition around the world.

The most active corn contract for March delivery closed at 6. 0025 U.S. dollars per bushel, up 7.5 U.S cents, or 1.3 percent. March wheat declined 3.5 cents, or 0.58 percent, to 5.97 dollars per bushel. January soybean gained 1.5 cents, or 0.13 percent, to 11.325 dollars per bushel.

Market analysts said that the two-week weather outlook for South America is dry enough to spark some short-covering on the corn and soybean market. Brazil officials predicted that the country's 2011/2012 soybean crop would amount to 71.29 million metric tons, down 5.4 percent from last year and below trade expectations.

Export sales for corn and soybeans came out better than the expected. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said that net export sales of corn for the week ended on Dec. 1 totaled 708,000 metric tons and soybeans, 795,600 metric tons.

However, the net weekly export sales of wheat only came in at 427,200 metric tons, which was below traders' expectations.

Meanwhile, U.S. wheat export was also pressured after EU granted export licenses this week for 142,000 metric tons of wheat, bringing the cumulative exports for the season to 6.6 million metric tons.