Wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade fell to near six-year lows on Tuesday, pressured by technical buying, strength in the dollar and US condition ratings that were better than a year ago, traders said. CBOT May wheat settled down 7-1/4 cents at $4.46 a bushel after dipping to $4.45-1/2, a contract low and the lowest value for a most-active contract since June 2010.
K.C. hard red winter wheat and MGEX spring wheat futures also closed lower, following CBOT wheat, with contract lows set in several months in both markets. Monthly crop reports released by the USDA late Monday showed condition ratings in Kansas, the top US winter wheat producer, improved in February.
While ratings fell in several other states, winter wheat was in better shape than a year ago in Oklahoma and Montana, the No 3 and 4 winter wheat states last year. Dollar strength lent pressure, making US grain less attractive on the world market. The dollar rebounded against the yen and hit one-month highs against the euro. Russian wheat export prices fell last week as traders were trying to return to more competitive levels amid a decline in global benchmarks, analysts said.
CBOT reported four March soft red wheat deliveries and six deliveries of K.C. hard red wheat. MGEX reported seven March spring wheat deliveries. After the CBOT close, Egypt's General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) set a tender to buy an unspecified amount of wheat from global suppliers for April 5-14.
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