Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) agricultural futures closed higher on the first trading day of 2019, with soybeans climbing double digits over dry weather in Brazil and high hopes for China buying.

CBOT brokers estimated that funds bought 6,400 contracts of soybeans, 3,200 contracts of corn, and 2,100 contracts of wheat on Wednesday.

"Today in soybeans, the market jumped up," said Virginia McGathey, McGathey Commodities."The dryness in Brazil is really affecting the crop and we're up double digits, at one point almost 16 cents."

"With above normal temperatures, it's really tough on the row crops, soybean then even corn a little bit, "she added.

The partial shutdown of the U.S. government has made it difficult for CBOT traders to follow official export sales reports, particularly soybean sales to China.

With no confirmation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture about new orders from China, traders can only get some clues from cash market about Chinese purchases of U.S. soybeans.

But hopes are high after both China and the United States have stressed the progress made so far in their trade talks.

Wheat also rose on Wednesday amid massive buying. Unfavorable weather in Argentina gave the market some lift too, said analysts.

At the end of the first session in 2019, CBOT March corn was up 0.75 cent, or 0.2 percent to close at 3.7575 dollars per bushel. March wheat was up 3.5 cents, or 0.7 percent to settle at 5.0675 dollars. March soybeans were up 12 cents, or 1.34 percent to settle at 9.07 dollars per bushel.