The spot MGE March contract on Wednesday fell 12 cents, or 1 percent, to close at $12.07 per bushel. However, during Asian trading hours, March spring wheat had surged to $12.45, a new all-time high for any US wheat contract. Volume at the CBOT was estimated at 80,207 wheat futures, down from 119,982 on Tuesday, and 14,850 options.
Volume in Kansas City was estimated at 15,539 contracts, down from 20,463 on Tuesday. Minneapolis volume was estimated at 13,536 contracts, up from 10,989 on Tuesday. The broad-based declines in commodities overshadowed concerns about continued cold weather and potential winterkill in the US Plains hard red winter wheat belt. Most core crop areas had a protective cover of snow.
Export news featured Pakistan buying 60,000 tonnes of red milling wheat, in addition to the roughly 500,000 tonnes it bought this week. Origins were optional but likely sources were thought to be from the Black Sea/Central Asia and South America.
Turkey bought 100,000 tonnes of milling wheat from Kazakhstan in a tender that closed this week. Argentine wheat farmers called on their government to reopen the export registry. The government stopped issuing new export permits in late November to safeguard domestic supplies after frosts raised concerns about yields.
But the harvest is now over and the Agriculture Secretariat has maintained its forecast for output of 15.4 million tonnes. Farmers say that should prompt the reopening of the registry. Morocco plans to scrap its system of state-managed soft wheat imports and restore a free market in which importers would receive subsidies that track world prices.
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