Soft red winter wheat futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were higher early on Wednesday amid supportive export news and weather jitters, traders said. At 10:02 am CST (1602 GMT), CBOT wheat was up 1 to 3-1/4 cents per bushel, with March up 3/4 cent at $3.06-1/2 per bushel. Refco Inc and Rand Financial each bought 200 March, pit sources said.
Wheat traders cited talk that Iraq may be negotiating to buy between 300,000 and 500,000 tonnes of US wheat as a supportive influence for wheat futures prices. There also is talk Cuba bought up to 125,000 tonnes of US hard wheat and South Korea set a tender for Thursday to buy 23,500 tonnes of US wheat. Japan overnight bought 120,000 tonnes of wheat with 80,000 tonnes coming from the United States.
Support also may be stemming from bitter-cold weather in the US winter wheat region, which might harm some of the crop. However, much of the crop is dormant and ready for winter. Also, most of the crop is protected by a blanket of snow.
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