Kansas City Board of Trade wheat futures closed lower on Wednesday in follow-through selling from Tuesday's losses, with pressure stemming from beneficial rain in the central US Plains, traders said. KCBT July wheat closed 3 cents lower at $3.34-1/4 per bushel, with deferred months down 3-3/4 to up 1 cent. Volume was estimated by the exchange at 8,287 lots, down from 11,164 on Tuesday. "It was thin in here," one trader said. Cargill Investor Services sold 500 July contracts and Refco Inc sold 400 July, while Fimat Futures bought 600 July and Man Financial bought 400 July, traders said.
Traders said weather remained a key pricing factor, with rain-related harvest delays in the southern Plains a bullish factor. The delays helped underpin cash bids for HRW wheat at the US Gulf, they said.
But the potential benefits of the rain to wheat in more northern areas of the hard red winter wheat belt were bearish for futures, traders said.
The crop has been in a steady state of deterioration the last month. As of Sunday, USDA said the US winter wheat crop was rated at 48 percent good to excellent, down from 52 percent a week earlier.
In Kansas, the top US wheat-growing state, the crop was rated 41 percent good to excellent, down 2 points from the previous week. Stripe rust continues to be a concern.
Oklahoma wheat fell to 34 percent good to excellent and Nebraska wheat slipped to 39 percent in those categories.
Dean Stoskopf, a Kansas wheat farmer and member of the Kansas Wheat Commission, said Tuesday that because of the deterioration, the wheat commission last week lowered its projection for Kansas wheat production from 400 million bushels to 350 million bushels, Stoskopf said.
Spring wheat ratings improved. USDA said 77 percent of the US spring wheat crop was rated good to excellent, up from 74 percent the previous week.
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