Wheat futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were sharply lower at midsession on Tuesday, pressured by better-than-expected US crop condition ratings, traders said. Forecasts for much-needed rain in Australia's wheat belt were also seen as bearish.
Bear-spreading was a feature at the CBOT, with nearby wheat contracts losing ground to deferred months in a reversal of last week's trend. As of 11:35 am CDT (1635 GMT), May wheat was down 12 cents at $4.82 per bushel, briefly dipping below support at its 100-day moving average of $4.80-1/4.
July wheat was down 9-1/2 at $4.96 and December was down 7 cents at $5.11. UBS Warburg sold 300 July contracts, traders said. The US Department of Agriculture late Monday said 54 percent of the US winter wheat crop was rated in good to excellent condition. That was down from 55 percent the previous week, but traders had expected a drop of 3 to 5 points.
News that Canadian farmers will plant 10 percent less wheat for 2007 offered underlying support, especially for the Minneapolis spring wheat market. Statistics Canada projected Canada's 2007 wheat seedings at 23.8 million acres, down 10.0 percent from 2006.
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