Soft red winter wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade were higher at midsession Thursday after consulting firm Informa Economics lowered its estimate for US winter wheat plantings, traders said. Informa projected 2007 US winter wheat plantings at 44.0 million acres, below its November estimate of 45.3 million, trade sources said.
"The drawdown on the soft red winter acreage may be a little more aggressive than what the trade was thinking," said James Barnett, an analyst for Man Global Financial.
The estimates compared with the 40.1 million acres that US farmers seeded to winter wheat for 2006. As of 11:30 am CST (1730 GMT), March wheat was up 6-1/2 cents at $4.95 per bushel, after buy stops lifted the contract to a session high of $4.96. New-crop July was up 6-1/4 at $4.92.
Spot December, which was set to expire at noon, was up 7 at $4.79-1/2. Iowa Grain bought 700 July contracts, traders said. There was little other fundamental news to steer wheat futures. The US Department of Agriculture reported weekly export sales at 471,100 tonnes, within trade estimates for 300,000 to 500,000 tonnes.
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