CBOT wheat futures sharply lower

Wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade closed sharply lower on Thursday, shedding 2 percent of their value on seasonal pressure ahead of the US winter wheat harvest, traders said.
"Generally there is a feeling that (US) winter wheat prospects are improving, and that we are adding bushels in spring wheat," said Rich Feltes, research director for Man Global Research. News that Egypt rejected US wheat at its latest tender and instead bought 120,000 tonnes of Russian or Kazakh wheat added pressure.
Wheat futures tumbled toward the closing bell on technical selling, with sell-stops pushing values to the day's lows. The benchmark July wheat contract ended down 11-1/4 cents, or 2.3 percent, at $4.85-1/2 per bushel after dipping below its 100-day moving average of $4.85-1/4.
Deferred contracts ended down 5 to 11 cents, with December down 10-3/4 at $5.06-1/2. Funds sold 4,000 contracts, with Fimat USA a noted late seller of 500 July, traders said. Volume was light, estimated by the CBOT at 42,909 wheat futures and 10,847 options.
Beneficial rains this week in key global production areas, including Australia, added pressure. But continued concerns about dry weather stressing crops in the North China Plain helped to underpin the market.
Consulting firm Informa Economics estimated US "other spring" wheat plantings at 14.0 million acres, above USDA's March 30 estimate of 13.8 million. That factor appeared to weigh on spring wheat futures at the Minneapolis Grain Exchange. MGE new-crop December spring wheat ended down 7-1/2 cents at $5.18-1/2 per bushel.
Export news was a mixed bag. Although the United States was shut out of the Egyptian business, the USDA said exporters reported the sale of 200,000 tonnes of US hard red winter wheat to Iraq for 2007/08 delivery.
Trade sources said Iraq also bought 50,000 tonnes of Canadian wheat, and was negotiating to buy another 100,000 to 200,000 tonnes from Canada and/or the United States.
The USDA reported export sales of US wheat last week at 394,400 tonnes (old and new crop combined), within estimates for 250,000 to 500,000 tonnes. However, the old-crop total of 56,900 tonnes was a marketing-year low. Japan bought 130,000 tonnes of US, Canadian and Australian wheat at its regular weekly tender.