KCBT wheat futures higher

Hard red winter wheat futures at the Kansas City Board of Trade made new contract highs and ended higher on Tuesday, fuelled by fund buying amid continued weather-related worries for world wheat crops, traders said.
July wheat ended up 5-3/4 cents at $5.10-1/2 after climbing as high as $5.21. September ended 5-1/4 cents higher at $5.22 after posting a new high at $5.32-1/2 and December ended up 8-1/4 cents at $5.38-1/4 after posting a new high at $5.47.
Man Financial bought 700 July and 200 September and 300 December and sold 300 July and sold 500 September, Frontier bought 300 December, and Prudential bought 200 September, floor sources said. Prudential also spread 600 July/September from 11 to 11-1/2 cents. J.P. did 600 September/July from 11 to 11-1/4 cents.
The gains came amid fears of tight world wheat supplies as Ukraine struggled with drought and the US HRW wheat harvest was delayed due to wet weather, with the new crop showing signs of stress due to excess moisture. Also, Romania expects to harvest a four-year record low wheat crop of 2.9 million tonnes in 2007 due to a prolonged drought, the agriculture ministry there said Tuesday.
Chicago Board of Trade soyabean and soyaoil futures offered spillover strength to wheat as well. Somewhat limiting gains was news that Informa Economics estimates for new-crop wheat came out Tuesday, with the crop consulting firm pegging 2007 US all-winter wheat at 1.686 billion bushels, including an HRW wheat crop of 1.095 million bushels. USDA last month pegged the all-winter wheat production at 1.62 billion bushels and HRW production at 1.03 billion bushels.
The US Agriculture Department said on Monday afternoon that 53 percent of the US winter wheat crop was rated in good to excellent condition, down from 57 percent the previous week. Crop conditions declined 4 points as well in Kansas, the top US wheat-producing state, with the percentage of the crop rated good to excellent dropping to 33 percent from 37 percent the previous week.
The Oklahoma crop was rated 60 percent good to excellent, down from 69 percent after signs of stress were noted in isolated fields due to excess moisture. Harvest was 10 percent completed in Texas, compared with 25 percent at this time last year and the five-year average pace of 26 percent.