Wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade closed higher on Monday on chart-based buying and uncertainty about whether Russia might limit grain exports, traders said. Technical buying in CBOT March wheat accelerated as the contract broke through resistance at its 200-day moving average near $6.16 on the way to a five-month top of $6.22-3/4.
K.C. hard red winter and MGEX spring wheat also closed higher. Gains capped by beneficial moisture arriving in the southern Plains wheat belt. Some traders said commodity funds were covering short positions amid worries that Russia, a major global grain supplier, might slow exports at a time when the tumbling ruble currency was raising domestic prices.
Russia should limit grain exports through companies registered offshore, the country's agriculture minister told the TASS news agency, suggesting a way the government could curb exports while avoiding an embargo. Ukraine's 2015 wheat harvest is likely to fall to around 20 million tonnes from more than 23 million in 2014, analyst UkrAgroConsult said, citing poor weather for 2015 crop emergence. USDA reported export inspections of US wheat in the latest week at 385,974 tonnes, above a range of trade expectations for 200,000 to 350,000 tonnes.
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