Wheat futures on all three US markets climbed on Thursday as Minneapolis Grain Exchange (MGEX) spring wheat futures charged to a three-year high on dry forecasts for the northern US Plains and a smaller-than-expected Canadian plantings figure, traders said. MGEX July spring wheat settled up 36-1/2 cents at $7.41-1/4 per bushel after reaching $7.59-3/4, the highest spot price on a continuous chart since May 2014.
MGEX September spring wheat briefly traded up its 60-cent daily limit at $7.68 before paring gains to end at $7.39-1/2. CBOT July wheat closed up 23 cents at $4.80-1/4 a bushel and K.C. July hard red winter wheat rose 19 cents to $4.80-1/2.
Statistics Canada estimated Canada's 2017 all-wheat seedings at 22.4 million acres, down from 23.2 million in 2016 and below an average of trade estimates for 22.7 million. The latest weekly US Drought Monitor showed "extreme drought" covering 25 percent of North Dakota, the top US spring wheat state, up from about 8 percent a week ago.
The USDA reported export sales of US wheat in the latest week at 492,100 tonnes, in line with trade expectations. Analysts expect the USDA on Friday to lower its estimate of US 2017 plantings of spring wheat other than durum to 11.2 million acres, from its March forecast of 11.3 million.
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