MGE wheat futures fall

Spring wheat futures on the Minneapolis Grain Exchange fell to three-week lows on Tuesday, tumbling on fund selling and slipover pressure from the Chicago and Kansas City markets, traders said.
MGE July spring wheat closed down 14-1/2 cents at $4.50-1/2 per bushel after hitting $4.50, its lowest level since May 15. Deferred months ended down 6 to 14-3/4 cents.
Funds were net sellers of about 1,000 contracts, traders said. Volume was estimated by the exchange at 5,668 contracts, up from 3,534 on Monday. Wheat futures followed a broad-based sell-off in commodities tied to anti-inflationary comments made by United States Fed chairman Ben Bernanke on Monday.
Prices for grains, precious metals and crude oil declined, while the United States dollar was firm. The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of 19 commodity futures closed at 344.78, down 4 points or 1.15 percent. The wheat market also faced seasonal pressure from the expanding United States harvest.
Private forecaster Meteorlogix said conditions would be hot and mostly dry for the next 10 days in the Plains hard red winter wheat belt, ideal for combines.
The US Department of Agriculture said the United States winter wheat crop was 9 percent harvested as of Sunday, ahead of the five-year average of 5 percent.
The harvest was 26 percent complete in Texas and 48 percent complete in Oklahoma.
Traders shrugged off declines in the weekly condition ratings for the US winter and spring wheat crops.
The USDA said 27 percent of the winter wheat crop was rated well to excellent, down from 28 percent the previous week.
For spring wheat, USDA said 69 percent was rated well to excellent, down from 73 percent the previous week. The United States spring wheat crop was 97 percent emerged, ahead of the five-year average of 88 percent. Crops were off to a good start in parts of Canada.
A weekly report from the Canadian province of Saskatchewan said 88 percent of the spring and durum wheat crops were rated in good to excellent condition. Concerns about dry weather in Australia remained a bullish background factor.
However, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics said it was predict cuts in winter crop production.
The bureau will release crop forecasts on June 20. Overnight export news was routine. Japan said it planned to buy 106,000 tonnes of United States, Canadian and Australian milling wheat at its weekly tender on Thursday, while Taiwan millers bought 70,470 tonnes of United States wheat.