US MIDDAY: wheat lower on reminders for export business

Wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade were lower early on Wednesday on reminders of strong competition for export business, traders said.
Disappointment over the US share of an Egyptian wheat purchase weighed on values. Egypt bought 175,000 tonnes of wheat, including 55,000 tonnes of US hard red wheat, 60,000 tonnes of French milling wheat and 60,000 tonnes of Russian wheat. The Russian wheat sold at $114.75 per tonne FOB.
Also, Statistics Canada raised its estimate of the 2005 Canadian all-wheat crop to 25.55 million tonnes, from its July estimate of 24.7 million. The total would be down 1.2 percent from the 2004 crop of 25.86 million tonnes. CBOT December wheat was down 3-1/4 cents, or 1 percent, at $3.44 per bushel. Deferred months were down 1-1/2 to 5 cents. Fimat Futures was an early seller of 200 December contracts, traders said.