Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures closed lower Thursday on reminders of ample world supplies and strong competition for export business, along with some forecasts for much-needed rains next week in the US Plains, traders said. CBOT May soft red winter wheat settled down 6-1/4 cents at $4.81 per bushel. K.C. May hard red winter wheat ended down 9-1/4 cents at $5.07-1/2 and MGEX May spring wheat fell 6 cents at $6.23.
The USDA reported export sales of US wheat in the week to April 5 at 188,700 tonnes (old and new crop years combined), below trade expectations. The USDA on Tuesday raised its forecast of world wheat stocks at the end of the 2017-18 marketing year to 271.2 million tonnes, an all-time high. Forecasting models indicated that a storm late next week could bring much-needed rain to the southern US Plains winter wheat belt, although meteorologists were skeptical.
Meanwhile, a blizzard targeting South Dakota on Friday and Saturday threatens to slow the planting of spring wheat.
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