MGE wheat up on inter-market spreads

Spring wheat futures on the Minneapolis Grain Exchange closed higher on Tuesday on light inter-market spreading, with traders buying Minneapolis December wheat against Chicago, brokers said.
MGE May wheat settled 3 cents higher at $4.05-1/2 per bushel, with deferred months up 1 to 3 cents. Volume was estimated by the exchange at 5,398 contracts, up from 2,845 on Monday.
UBS Warburg bought 400 December while ADM Investor Services bought 300 May and 300 July, traders said. Country Hedging sold 100 May, 100 July, 100 September and 100 December, they said.
Spring wheat futures had added support from concerns about potential planting delays due to wet weather in the northern US Plains, including flooding in parts of the Red River Valley.
The US Agriculture Department said the US spring wheat crop was 2 percent seeded as of Sunday, down from 4 percent a year ago and the five-year average of 3 percent.
The USDA's weekly crop report from North Dakota, the top US spring wheat producer, noted flooding of some fields and rivers, particularly in the eastern districts.
Trade stalled at midmorning when a technical problem halted trade at the Chicago Board of Trade for 40 minutes, starting at 10:41 am CDT (1541 GMT). However, a Minneapolis Grain Exchange spokeswoman said the Minneapolis exchange remained open throughout the session. "We did not halt trading at all this morning," MGE spokeswoman Jesse Bartz said.
In Chicago, wheat prices closed firm after early pressure from weekly crop ratings showing improvement in key winter wheat states. In Kansas, 38 percent of the crop was rated in good to excellent condition, up from 26 percent last week.
As expected, the government's first US crop condition report of the season showed a decline in wheat ratings from a year ago. The USDA said 38 percent of the US winter wheat was rated good to excellent, down from 68 percent a year earlier. Export activity included news from European traders that Jordan was expected to issue a tender for about 100,000 tonnes of US wheat in May. Japan will hold its first regular tender to purchase wheat for fiscal 2006/07 next week.
Ukrainian consultant UkrAgroConsult raised its 2006 wheat harvest outlook by 3.4 percent to 10.92 million tonnes, from 10.56 million a month ago.