Corn and soybeans gained on Wednesday amid expectations that increasing global demand will reduce inventories for the two crops before next harvests.

Corn reserves were forecasted to decline to 1.419 billion bushels by Aug. 31, while soybean reserves were forecasted to fall to 166 million bushels.

Corn futures for March delivery increased by 11 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $5.2025 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade after an increase to $5.2875.

Last year, corn prices gained 78 percent boosted by high demand of the grain for the production of ethanol and livestock feed.

Soybean futures for March delivery increased by 38.25 cents, or 2.9 percent, to $13.6125 a bushel in Chicago after gaining 50 cent, to a record high of $13.73.

Soybean oil futures for March delivery increased 1.2 cents, or 2.2 percent, to 56.6 cents a pound in Chicago.

Soybean futures increased by 67 percent last year due to a high demand for alternative fuels made from oilseeds.

U.S. export sales for grains increased following predictions that global corn and wheat inventories this year would decline.

Wheat export sales were as high as 66 percent since June 1, corn sales were up 33 percent since Sept.1 while soybean export sales have increased by 0.8 percent.