* Corn prices climb for second day after report on Brazil crop, soybeans also higher

* Wheat pares gains

NEW YORK, Sept 20 (Reuters) -

Chicago corn futures ended higher on Wednesday, extending a rebound from this week's near three-year lows, while wheat climbed on a pickup in global export business and soybeans followed grain prices higher.

Benchmark Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) corn climbed 6 cents, or 1.26%, to settle at $4.82-1/4 a bushel, fueled by bargain-hunting, uncertainty about U.S. yields and expectations that Brazil could see a smaller corn harvest in the coming year.

Brazil's food supply and statistics agency Conab late on Tuesday predicted a 9.1% drop in Brazil's total corn crop in the 2023/2024 cycle.

"That's a big drop," said Dan Basse, the president of Chicago-based AgResource Co. "As the U.S. market saw that, that was reason to cover shorts at three-year lows," he said.

Commodity funds as of Sept. 12 held their largest net short position in CBOT corn futures since 2020, weekly data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed, leaving the market prone to bouts of short-covering.

CBOT wheat futures saw a boost as Egypt and Algeria bought wheat on the global market, but profit-taking pared gains, traders said. CBOT December wheat settled up 4-3/4 cents, or 0.8%, at $5.88-3/4 a bushel.

"We're finding some world demand. It's giving the wheat market a bounce here," Basse said.

Egypt's state grains buyer booked 120,000 metric tons of Romanian wheat in an international purchase tender. Traders said the Romanian cargoes were priced at roughly $256 per ton FOB, excluding freight, while traders noted numerous offers of Russian wheat at $270 a ton FOB.

Algeria's state grains agency OAIC

bought

around 600,000 metric tons of milling wheat in an international tender that closed on Tuesday, European traders said.

CBOT soybean futures rose, with the benchmark November contract settling up 4-1/2 cents at $13.20.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) confirmed private sales of 120,000 tonnes of U.S. soybeans to unknown destinations.

However, in a reminder of export competition from Brazil, the world's top soy producer and supplier, China's soybean imports from the South American country rose 45% in August from a year earlier, customs data showed. (Reporting by Zachary Goelman in New York City. Additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris, Naveen Thukral in Singapore and Peter Hobson in Canberra; Editing by Andrea Ricci)