US wheat futures fell on Friday, with Minneapolis Grain Exchange (MGEX) spring wheat tumbling nearly 3 percent after the US Department of Agriculture surprised traders by raising its estimate of the US spring wheat crop, despite a summer drought. Soyabean and corn futures rose more than 1 percent each on bullish quarterly stocks data from the USDA.
As of 12:40 p.m. CDT (1740 GMT), Chicago Board of Trade December wheat was down 5 cents at $4.50 a bushel while MGEX December spring wheat was down 18 cents at $6.27 a bushel after hitting $6.20-1/4, its lowest level in more than a week. CBOT December corn was up 4-1/2 cents at $3.57 a bushel and November soyabeans were up 14-1/2 cents at $9.74 a bushel.
MGEX wheat fell the hardest after the USDA reported US 2017 production of spring wheat other than durum at 416 million bushels, up from its previous estimate of 402 million bushels and well above an average of analyst estimates for 382 million bushels. The government put the US all-wheat crop at 1.741 billion bushels, above the average trade estimate of 1.718 billion bushels.
CBOT corn and soyabeans rallied after the USDA's quarterly stocks figures for both crops came in below trade expectations. The USDA reported Sept. 1 corn stocks at 2.295 billion bushels, the most since 1988. However, the figure fell below even the lowest in a range of trade estimates for 2.310 billion to 2.450 billion bushels.
Similarly, the USDA reported Sept. 1 soyabean stocks at 301 million bushels, below a range of analyst expectations but up 53 percent from a year ago. CBOT December corn was up about 1.2 percent, its biggest one-day advance since Aug. 31. November soyabeans gained about 1.5 percent, the largest jump since Sept. 14.
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