KCBT wheat settles lower

Hard red winter wheat futures at the Kansas City Board of Trade closed lower on Monday as widespread rains diminished crop concerns in parts of Europe and Australia, traders said. End-month positioning added pressure, with aggressive selling by commodity funds noted late in the session.
The market settled 3 to 15-1/4 cents lower, with the May contract down 14-1/4 at $4.84-3/4 per bushel and new-crop July down 15-1/4 at $4.86-1/2. Volume was light, estimated by the exchange at 7,971 contracts, down from 17,252 lots on Friday.
DTN Meteorlogix forecast rain and showers in Australia, and widespread showers would be seen this week from the UK south over France and over much of Spain and Portugal. Meanwhile, damage assessments of the new wheat crop in Kansas, the No 1 US wheat-producing state, were expanding this week as a group of wheat industry players launched a tour of hundreds of Kansas wheat fields.
The Wheat Quality Council was leading the tour and planned to announce a projected yield and production forecast for the state on Thursday. Wet and warm conditions in the US Plains, including Kansas, were raising concerns about disease in the HRW crop, which has already been hit hard by freeze damage.
"We're calling for daily episodes of scattered to widely scattered showers and thunderstorms through Thursday," Meteorlogix forecaster Mike Palmerino said.
"The big question is how much of a disease issue is going to develop with this warm, wet weather pattern," he said. In export news, India's State Trading Corp issued a tender Monday for the importation of 1 million tonnes of wheat between May and July, a Trading Corp source told Reuters. Also, USDA on Monday said 16.7 million bushels of US wheat were inspected for export last week, within a range of trade estimates for 15 million to 20 million.
After the markets closed, the USDA said 56 percent of the US winter wheat crop was rated in good to excellent condition, up from 54 percent the previous week. In Kansas, 39 percent of the crop was rated good/excellent, up from 34 percent the previous week.
US traders had expected ratings to stabilise following recent declines from an early April freeze. USDA said 26 percent of the US crop was headed, compared with the five-year average of 28 percent.