CBOT wheat futures lower

Wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade closed lower on Monday in a quiet technical setback from Friday's higher close, influenced by profit-taking in the corn market, traders said.
March wheat closed down 2-3/4 cents at $4.58-1/2 per bushel, although support held at the 200-day moving average of $4.57-3/4. Back months ended down 2 to 5 cents. Funds were net even on the day, traders said. Fimat USA was a late seller of 800 March. But volume overall was very light, estimated by the CBOT at 34,521 futures and 3,464 options.
Concerns about potential winterkill underpinned futures after subzero temperatures gripped northern sections of the US Midwest soft red winter wheat belt over the weekend. Lows early Monday ranged from 4 to 8 degrees below zero Fahrenheit in northern areas of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, and one more night of sub-zero readings was expected in the region.
"This would be cold enough to cause at least some damage to winter wheat, if it lacks a protective snow cover," DTN Meteorlogix forecaster Joel Burgio said. Agronomists said the winterkill threat was probably limited to late- or shallow-planted wheat. However, the extent of any damage will not be known until spring.
"My guess is that it probably hasn't hurt anything, but you can't be sure about that," Ohio State agronomist Jim Beuerlein said. The market's setback came despite a supportive US export inspections figure. The US Department of Agriculture said 23 million bushels of US wheat were inspected for export last week, above a range of trade estimates for 17 million to 21 million.
The total included 1.8 million bushels earmarked for Iraq. After the close, the USDA issued budget documents projecting US wheat plantings for 2007 harvest at 60 million acres, up from 57.3 million in 2006. The documents pegged US 2007 wheat production at 2.170 billion bushels, up from 1.812 billion bushels in 2006.
The CFTC's Commitments of Traders report issued on Friday showed large speculators cut their net long position in CBOT wheat futures and options to 7,488 contracts in the week ended January 30. For futures only, funds cut their net long to 1,706 contracts. Index funds slightly expanded their net long to 191,428 contracts, up 908 lots.